Thankful Thursday:

Unbelievable how this year went by so fast. So much has

happened in our family this year..much trials, tribulations,

a separation and many a lesson learned. 

Trying to keep my family sane and happy this year has

 been the hardest for me and there were moments I wasn't

 sure if Heavenly Father was listening to my prayers. But I 

knew in my heart that Heavenly Father wouldn't give us 

trials that we couldn't handle and kept strong with that in

mind. 

I've learned this year to be a stronger person, have more

patience with my children as they're going through a rough

patch as well and being more optimistic about what the 

new year will bring us. 

2 days ago we we're on the verge of being homeless. We

had been waiting on a check from a client to pay our rent 

and were told that it would take about 2-3 weeks for us to

receive this payment. This was the only job we had for the

month and knew that the kids wouldn't get anything for Xmas.

We sat down with the kids and explained to them what

has happened and our 7 year said that he understands and

that he'd rather have a place to stay than be cold on the 

streets. We only had until the 28th to have a payment in of 

$1,398.67 this is plus court and legal fees to the office by 

5 pm. I had exhausted all resources trying to find help until

we could get that check in and repay whoever was going 

to help us. 3:20 pm a friend that we had done work for in

November then agreed to help us out. I couldn't be more 

thankful to Aaron and his wife for helping us that day. Our

family is indebted to him for his kindness and generosity. 

I'm thankful that today I'm able to write you all from a 

warm room with a roof over my head and Father full of 

grace and mercy who has blessed us with much to be 

thankful for. 

I look forward to 2011 and all that it holds for us and I

 hope that it brings you all more love, joy, happiness and

much abundance than you can receive. It's been an honor

to know each and every one of you. 

To read more Thankful Thursday stories, head over to
Grace Alone and link up there. Thanks, Alicia for the link!

God Bless:)

A Favor for A Friend...

Lately I haven't been up to much. A good friend asked

me a couple of weeks ago if I could use my camera to 

take a picture of her mom and son for some Christmas

eCards. So I agreed. I haven't had the chance to actually

go out and photograph people so I was pretty nervous. 

Her mom brought 3 sets of change and we set out to 

look for a place to take their pictures. We didn't get far

when they decided to take pictures in our area and the 

park in the back. Thank goodness it was sunny that 

Saturday afternoon. I was hoping that the rain and cloudy

skies wouldn't ruin our fun. Though it was really windy

and cold that day. Our pictures turned out ok. I did learn

alot that day about what I could've done better. So I 

asked her if she'd like to try it again on another sunny 

day and she happily agreed. Here's a couple of shots 

from that day. We ended up with 200 or more shots 

and it was really hard to pick what was good to post

and what wasn't. This was a chance for me to use 

my Adobe Lightroom 3 program that I hadn't used 

yet. What do you think? 

This was taken in the parking lot of our church in

front of a light post. She was still fixing his collar 

and I thought it was a perfect moment.

Grandma Lita and Kimball Jr. 

My friend Aviance and her son,Polo leka (nick name)

New York Style Crumb Cake

New York Style Crumb Cake 

Bon Appetit- April 2010 issue

12 servings This is our Christmas morning

treat with a hot cup of cocoa! It's a moist 

and tender sour cream coffee cake with a 

thick topping of cinnamon streusel. Enjoy.

topping

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

11/2 tblsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted,

and warm

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda 

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter,

room temperature. If using salted butter

omit the salt. 

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping Mix: Mix both sugars, cinnamon and

salt in medium bowl and whisk to blend. Add 

warm melted butter and stir to blend. Add flour

and toss with fork until moist clumps form 

(topping mixture will look slightly wet). 

Set aside. 

Cake: Position rack in center of oven and 

preheat to 350 F. Butter 13x9x2 inch glass 

baking dish. ( I used a 9 inch cake pan and 

dished out the rest into small cake bowls 

for individual crumb cakes) Sift flour, baking

soda, baking powder, and salt into a medium

bowl. Using electric mixer, beat room temp

erature butter in large bowl until smooth. Add

sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs

1 at a time, beating until well blended after 

each addition. Add sour cream and vanilla 

extract and beat just until blended. Add flour

mixture in 3 addition, beating just until incor

porated after each addition. Transfer cake 

batter to prepared baking dish, spread batter

evenly with rubber spatula or offset spatula. 

Squeeze small handfuls of topping together

to form small clumps. Drop topping clumps 

evenly over cake batter, covering completely

(topping will be thick, I just kept our topping 

thin for our cake). Bake cake until tester 

inserted into center comes out clean and the

topping is deep golden brown and slightly 

crisp, about 1 hour. Cool cake in dish on rack

at least 30 min. Do Ahead Can be made 1 day

ahead. Cool completely. Cover and let stand 

at room temperature. Cut cake into squares

and serve slightly warm or at room temperat

ure. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas friends and family, it's been quite a year! 

I'm glad to have made many bloggy friends this year and  

have gotten to know most of you through shared experiences.

I hope that today brings you and your family much joy, peace

and many blessings! 

Macro Friday: Flowers

Joining in on the Macro Friday Meme..yes another picture. 

I took this one and wanted to see how it would turn out with

the morning dew still on it. Click on the Macro Friday Button 

to check out the rest of the Macro entries there. 

Pretty Flowers on Saturday

I joined in on The Saturday Flower Meme..I love pictures of flowers 

and wanted to submit a couple of the pictures that I have. Head over

to Bluberry craft to enter your picture or check out the entries there.

This picture was taken from our complex's garden area. Don't know

what the flower is, I just saw it and took the picture. This was taken

around close to midnight when we were out walking.

Furlough Day Due to Budget Cuts

Loni comes home after school and tells me that

he has some really important papers to give me

and that I have to look at it immediately..teacher

says. So he hands me a November Calendar 

Reminder and I see 5 days on there are Furlough

Days due to budget cuts..yikes. Starting today. 

then Nov. 22nd through the 24. then Thanksgiving

Holiday. 

I felt bad reading it and wished there was something

I could do to help out. So I started looking through

the closets for the Scholastic Phonics Kit we received

2 years ago and never put to use and let the kids test

out the new Steps to Scholastic Success Slide Show

Mathematics Grades 3-4 CD-Rom we received to 

review for our Holiday Gift Guide on Luscious Deals. 

I'm making sure that my kids learn what they have to

learn with all these furlough days adding up. Maybe 

I went to extremes today but, I wanted to start a new

schedule that would be better for them in the long 

run. Time on our new Wii game machine has been 

cut down to half an hour instead of an hour. We're 

now doing 2 rounds of 20 minute reading sessions 

in the morning and afternoon. I'm trying to get more 

ideas and have been surfing homeschooler blogs 

most of the day, between cooking, cleaning and 

blogging. I want to do more stuff like science and 

studying about other countries. What do you think?

Nesi's Thanksgiving Turkey Project

Nesi came home last week with a Turkey Outline
with directions to fill it in with anything we wanted
just no coloring. We could use yarn, wood shavings,
etc. We had pink yarn, Nesi said no pink Turkeys,
we didn't have wood shavings.

So I pulled out my craft bins to see what we had left
in there. we had 4 yards of black and cream burlap
that I was saving to do a cultural dance outfit for the
girls with. So we cut out [2] 2 inch strips from each
color lengthwise and then cut them in half a again and
down to small 1 inch or 1.5 inches, used craft glue
to hold it down and rhinestones from the dollar store.

I didn't take step by step pics. So here is what we got
in the end.

The colorful areas are yellow, red and green,
crepe streamers that we created into ruffled
sections then used Elmer's School Glue to
hold it down with. We then used Martha 
Stewart Crafts® Eyelet Lace Punch Around
The Page Set for the brown background.

2 Days of Halloween Fun!!

Yesterday we had the chance to attend our ward's Trunk or Treat

and Chili Cook off. It was tons of fun and the kids loved it. It was

raining pretty hard so we didn't do the Trunk or Treat outside in the

parking lot, so we just stood in the hall and passed out the candy to

the children in the ward. 

Today we went trick or treating in our neighborhood and covered

about 6 blocks all together. As soon as we got in the little ones said

that they were pooped out and wanted to go to bed. So we bagged

their candies and let them eat 2 pieces before brushing their teeth 

and hitting the sack. 

Sione's Monster Mash

I had the chance to fly down and enjoy my 

nephew Sione Mila's 1st birthday Monster 

Mash with his 1st cousin. I got my ticket last

minute [paid by mom of course,thanks mom] 

Here's a look into the fun and games on Saturday

evening. 

My Answer to Saving $$ on Kid's Clothing...

I got the kids to bed and up checking my emails this evening.

When I come across thredUP on BzzAgent and couldn't believe

my luck. If you haven't heard of thredUp you'll need to check 

them out if you'd like to save $$$ on your kids clothes, while

donating your children's outgrown gently used clothes.

Here's how they work: 

Create an account, submit your address, they'll send you 10 

complimentary USPS/thredUp boxes. Give it a week or so. 

While you're waiting, browse around and pick a box of new

clothes. The more thredUP members there are the better it

is, so let your friends know about thredUP and join in on the

fun. "Like" them on their facebook page here. Follow their 

tweets here on Twitter. 

I'm currently setting up my profile and stuff. 

A reminder from Sunday

image: www.redwoodcity.org

On Sunday, we each received a Preparedness Newsletter

before going into Sacrament Meeting. I was so thankful for

receiving this because it's been on my mind lately. Being 

prepared for the worst..with 5 kids you have to be have all

supplies ready if any winter weather storms hit. So far, I have

a long way to go on getting everything in order. 

The forms were Reprinted from American Red Cross pamphlet

"Before Disaster Strikes."

You should be ready for winter weather by November 1st. 

- check home and car emergency supplies. 

- review family backup plans for cooking, heating and lighting.

Choose safe alternate sources (flashlights or electrically power

ed lanterns. NOT candles or gas lanterns!).

- If you have a fireplace or wood stove,stock up on seasonal 

wood and have your chimney or stovepipe checked & cleaned

by a professional. 

- insulate water pipes with fiberglass or foam insulation. 

- Winterize your cars- check and adjust or replace antifreeze

before November 1st. 

Take simple precautions to stay warm safely, if you do lose 

power. 

-Save Body Heat: Wear a hat,even while sleeping. Wear

loose layers of clothing to trap body heat. Keep moving, 

exercise generates body heat. Use plenty of blankets and a

hot water bottle if you're able to heat water. 

After reading this, I plan on heading out to the dollar store

to see if they have the gloves for a $1 and some beanies. 

at least I could start with that for the kids. I think I'm going

to ask for a gas lantern for Christmas..lol. Last year, I 

noticed that Fred Meyer's had the gloves on sale at 10 for

$10. Hope they have it again this year. 

-Be Alert for signs of hypothermia ( a drop in core body

temperature) especially in infants and elderly. Even air temps

of 65 degrees F can trigger hypothermia, and some medical

conditions can make people more susceptible. If someone 

has a body temperature below 95 degrees, call for medical 

help. Check on elderly neighbors,too. 

-Lock in Home Heat Pick one room on the sunny side of the 

house and close it off to keep the heat in. Insulate windows and

doors. 

A good friend called me last night and informed that she

has enrolled her daughter in Girl Scouts. I think that is 

wonderful. I don't know if the older girls want to join, but

I'd like to check it out and see if my 5 yo can join too. 

My older son is working towards Eagle Scout so I think

he'll be good. My 7 yo son will be joining soon. 

I just want the kids educated enough to know if the worst

happens and we all aren't together, they'll know what to do

if they're on their own. Heaven forbid anything like that will

happen. (I'm talking about earthquakes, something like that)

I think watching 2012 and other movies like that has got me

going..

Crafting at Home With The Kids

The kids are off of school today, it's Teacher Work Day

or something like that. The kids wanted something different

for breakfast and so we decided to try out Orange Rolls

Cupcakes. They liked it so much, 24 of the rolls were done

in under an hour..

We decided to make Chinese Lanterns and Cereal bracelets.

Nesi made the cereal bracelets before and wanted to do it 

again. Loni really liked creating the lanterns and it was pretty 

easy. 

Ami's Football Game...

Photo credits: Salote Teisina

Ami and his teammates won their football game on 

Friday evening against Mt. View 42 to 48!!! They're 5-0! 

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!

Benji, Fiki and Lai (Salote's brothers)