Freedom is not Free

 Grab a cup of coffee. This is a long post. I know I am a few days late but here is my Veteran's Day post.

Many seem to confuse Memorial Day with Veteran's Day. Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor America's war dead. Veterans Day honors both the living and the dead. Veteran's Day is mainly to thank the LIVING Veterans for their dedication, sacrifices and loyalty to their country. November 11th is the day Veteran's know that we deeply appreciate the Heroes we have amongst us and all the sacrifices they have made for us and the freedom we know today.

There is a very high price we pay for freedom. American soldiers sacrifice so much for all of us. All for the freedom of our country. Leaving their families and heading off to war , unaware of what the future holds. I took a moment today to think of the great sacrifices made by these brave heroes.

                We should never forget all the men that have died        

                                          We should never forget the battles they have fought.

                                      We should never forget all the tears the families have cried. 

We should never forget every child that has to grow up and experience life's milestones without a dad, not because they chose not to be there, but because they chose to fight for our country.

It is an unimaginable debt, and a tremendous amount of gratitude that can never bring back the unknown identities lost to the cold hard bullets.


Today I am a proud mom to know that I have shared with my kids what the true meaning of Veteran's Day is. Pravan very proudly marched in the parade in down town Reno as Priyasha, dad and I waited along the side of the road for him to make his way down Virginia Street.

Here are all the wolf cubs that marched together.

Pravan and his buddy Alan since Kindergarten.

      A close look at this awesome plane.

                             I love that he has his hands in the pocket..is that the new style ???

                                                 Missy had to give it a try too..

     Patiently waiting for brother to come by in the parade.

Here he comes. He turns and waves to daddy's voice... and he tries to find us in the crowd.

This was a happy click moment. One min she was next to me and the next she was hugging uncle Sam in the middle of the road... It was so cute...

                                  This was the marching band practicing before the parade.

            There were many dogs in the parade. This one definitely rode in with style and very patriotic...

This was paparazi mom running along in the parade to get this shot. 

Have you explained to your children the true meaning of Veteran's Day ?? It is up to us to share the knowledge we have with the future... OUR KIDS ....

We owe veterans our gratitude

For they are the reason we are free !!!

Thank you for stopping by. Any feedback, comments are always welcome. I wish you a happy week.

Mwah !!!!

Last , First Day of Pre-school

Hello World !

Last month my little Girly has her last first day of pre-school. You may not know that she graduated from pre-school last year as she met all the academic requirements for kindergarten.Unfortunately for her she is still not five and needs to be in pre-school one more year.

Fabulous for me as I want do not really want her to grow up so fast. Well since she is my last baby this is the last time I have a first day of

pre-school moment.

Since Pravan ( Lollipop ) was in pre-school we have been doing the kissing hand tradition. We read the book and I love that we have done this since his first day.Off course he is not in third grade and I could not get away with doing this in front of the school. He says he it is too embarassing :( **sigh ** They grow up so fast.

The Kissing Hand~A perfect first day story. This is a story about a little raccoon ready to start school. He talks about his

fears to his mother, fears that most children have before beginning school. His mother comes up with a wonderful solution to help her little raccoon remember that she loves him and is thinking about him, even whenshe isn't with him. A wonderful and heart-warming story to share with little ones.

Girly on the other hand still loves being with her mama. She was not shy giving me my kissing hand as her friends waited for her.Some kids cried and refused to let go of their mom. Priyasha was happy to be in school but she also lets me know that she missed me, whenI pick her up. That is what makes being a mommy so worthwhile.

Now we continue this with Priyasha (Girly) and she makes sure that Pravan never leaves the house without giving her a kissing hand.

Daddy had the day off today and I love that he is such a great dad and always makes time for the kids. He is a positive influence in their lives and helps maintain the balance of our discipline in this house when I over re-act.He certainly helps keep the peace with me and the kids.

Girly was most excited today. She picked out this cute outfit at the store and was thrilled to wear it to school. I took her on a date with mommy and shopping was a huge part of our special day together.

Well it seems as though I am slowly aging and I have passed the milestones many young mothers look forward to. I am moving on to a new chapter in motherhood and the this was my last First day of pre-school. One of my absolute joys in life is freezing the moment and here are some of mine that I can proudly share with the world.

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry this has taken me so long to post. Life is crazy right now..

Mwah !!!

A quiet morning can only be wishful thinking..

Hello World

Yesterday I spent most of the day spring cleaning and as you know I love having a clean house. It makes me feel like I have control. Scattered toys, splattered toilets, crumbs on the floor, dishes and laundry drives me crazy. I took care of most of that yesterday so when I got up this morning I would have a relaxed morning. Ya right !!!

Well recently I have been put on mandatory rest and have been asked to slow down. I consciously have been going to bed around 11pm which is two hours earlier than my 1am lights off routine. This morning my wonderful husband let me sleep in until 9am in the hopes that I would not wake up Bitchy today as I did yesterday when he got me up super early to ask me a dumb question... aahhhh finally he did something right.

We had a good start to the day, I had a nice cup of tea while he sipped he coffee that was probably cold since he made it , What an hour ago...why do coffee drinkers sip that coffee forever ???? Pravan got his reading done for the day and Priyasha was happily playing pretend with her dolls. Todd finally sat on the couch and decided to take football of pause.. All of a sudden we heard Pravan screech.. " Mommy look at the trampoline !!!! "

This is the neighbors backyard. Notice their shed lost the roof...

Todd and I were in shock as this gale force winds lifted up the trampoline that was not staked down as we finally got grass, yes we finally got a backyard...that cost way too much for grass, so taking care of it by not staking a trampoline before the roots take to it's new surrounding was priority..

..

Todd runs next door to check it out... Thankfully there was no damage.

So we worked together as a team to get the trampoline back into out backyard...

I helped gather all the legs and just when we thought we were in the clear...

There was another gust of wind and the trampoline took off again... Missing hubby by inches. It landed back in the neighbors backyard.

Thank heavens we have wonderful neighbors and they were understanding and came out to help. Just as we got the trampoline over the fence , it blew right back into the neighbors yard. We then decided to leave the trampoline in their yard and weight it done with some wooden pallets.

All of these pictures are courtesy of my eight year old boy. He did a pretty good job taking these from the upstairs bedroom window. He takes after his mama... life through the lense...

So much for a quiet morning and this time I actually scheduled it in my day ****SIGH ***

Much love to you all

You only have time what is a priority in your life

So often people say " I don't know how you have time to do that " I smile and think to myself...if something is important enough to you or means a lot to you then you will find the time.

I have obviously removed blogging from my life for while for many reasons. I also stopped reading all the blogs I follow. Instead for the last year and a half there has been a ton of emotions to process and still even as I sit here and write this I have thoughts and feelings about things too personal to share. But what saddens me the most , is the realization that I have turned my back on so many blogging friends.

The cyber world was a big part of my life that made me smile every single day. Today I have decided to get that back. I will blog more every week and will not feel the pressure of filling in the missing parts of my life over the last year.

I hope to find all my lost cyber buddies once again. I missed you all.

Free Spirit

XOXOXOXO

I'm Back !!!!

Hello world

Life this last year has been one Tsunami after another. So much has happened and I have no idea where to begin. I would really love to get back to this cyber world. I miss all you guys. Life has been so so overwhelming that I needed the break. A very very long break.

Last year I received some unexpected news that my mother was very ill. Within 15 mins I heard back from my family in South Africa that my mom had passed away. I was at a birthday party at the time and had to rush out leaving my kids behind. I desperately needed to be by myself. Thankfully I have amazing friends that took care of my kids.

It was no too long that I wiped away my tears and had to figure out how I was going to get to South Africa from the west coast in the United States. Financially it was a challenge and personally as well. My family was scheduled to fly to the east coast to visit with my in laws. I was packing and preparing to travel already. However going to my mother's funeral was never ever a planned thought. Yes I thought about it real briefly and dreaded that this day would come and it was here and this was last July. I have so much to say and get out there and I hope blogging about it a little with help with the grieving process which I have not allowed myself to do.

I had many many miles ahead of me and little to no strength to do it.To be precise I had to travel from Nevada to New York which is about 2, 413 miles or 3 883 km.

From New York to Johannesburg is 7960 miles or 12810 km and

from Johannesburg to Durban is 308 miles or 497 km.

I then had another 45 km which is about an hour drive from the airport to my home town, Tongaat which is in Kwa- Zulu Natal set in the rolling hills with sugar cane plantations.

Nothing could have ever prepared me for the journey that waited. All the life experiences I have been through did not help. I somehow went on auto-pilot mode and did what needed to be done. I have so much more to tell you but I need to do this in stages. If you have any suggestions on how I tell my story please feel free to write a comment or e-mail me at esplandry@sbcglobal.net and in the subject line " life story" .

Thanks for stopping by. I promise to add pics from my trip so you can get a glimpse of my life and of South Africa.

XOXOXO

Free Spirit !!!

It's raining, it's pouring and pump it up

Yesterday the kids were had a fun filled day. Early in the morning we went to a great place in Reno called pump it up. It was our first visit. A nice friend of mine who lives on my street invited the whole neighborhood to go and play. She won an auction and had to use up her voucher. What a splendid idea to invite all the kids for a massive play date. Thanks

Michelle.

Pump it up is a place where they have parties and open play on certain days. We had the whole place to ourselves and there was two rooms. We first watched a safety video and then we got to go to the first room to play. There was a basketball bounce house, an obstacle course and a climbing wall and a slide. The kids loved it. I was the big kid and got into the structures with my wonderful new D3oo and got some fantastic shots.

After about an hour or so we were directed to the next room. In this room there was another maze like obstacle course and a massive slide and also a battle arena. The kids had to slide down on mats if they wanted to and in the arena they wore a safety helmet and got to battle with another kid with this huge stick thing. Priyasha was too little but she had to check it out with her brother. The stick thing was bigger than her and she could not carry it. The helmet gave her a bad hair day and then about 30 seconds later she was done and off to the big slides. The boys were thrilled not to have a little princess ruin their rough play.

The prince all suited up.

Get off !!! This is not for girls.....

I want to try buder !!!!!!

Oh forget this !!!!!!!

This messed up my hair ....

All tuckered out and best buds again.

It has been raining in Reno for about two weeks. This is the most I have seen it rain in the last six years. We will no longer be in a desert if this precipitation persists. Today was the first clear day but this afternoon on my way to spin class we could see a storm brewing. The sky got darker and darker. We heard the thunder rumble and saw lots of lightning. When I left the gym we saw a double rainbow. In the two minutes it took me to get home the one rainbow disappeared.

The sun was out but it was a constant rain.I raced the whole one mile home to grab my camera. I found my wonderful husband with my camera in his hands taking some pictures from the back door. He was trying to get the lightning strike with the rainbow. My camera will do 8 frames per sec but he had no idea how to activate this feature.I could hardly stand watching him take pictures so I asked to have a turn. I actually got in the car and drove up a hill to get a better shot. It was still raining and I had to be careful . After the first shot I realize there was no memory card. I raced back home and got the memory card and raced back up the hill. In case you were wondering I was in the car and not running. I parked on the road several times and put my hazards on. I got out for a few seconds and snapped some shots. I had to be careful with

my new toy in the rain.

I snapped several shots and I have attempted to panoramic stitch the pictures to get one amazing shot. Here is my try. This is my first shot but I hope to keep trying this new technique. In the future I hope to get a wide angle 12- 24 mm lens so this type of pic will be easier than edited in photo shop. The rainbow was a nice way to end the day.

So prepare to see the worst attempt at a panoramic stitching. Pravan coached me and told me to be better than the best and if I keep practicing I will perfect it.Great advice from a six year old. I taught him well. I could have planned this better and taken better overlapping shots. I am not sure why there is a patch over where the pics meet. Oh well this was my very first try and I am okay with this result for now but the next one will be way better.

Thanks for stopping by. Please stop by to follow along the kids footsteps to get their first real pet. The cat we have does not count as that is my cat from when we were first married.Can you guess what they got ??? I will post that in a few days.

Free Spirit !!!!

Still alive and kicking

So how is everybody ???? Thanks for still stopping by. Life has been very crazy and there has been a lot going on. Here is a short list of all I have been doing.

**** Been very sick. All better now. Have two nodules on my thyroid glands but since they are so small it will be monitored for growth.

***** Been running the kids food campaign. That is going well and we still have several places that are hosting the barrels.Here you see the food drive truck picking up the barrels at the schools. He already had the barrels loaded from six different schools.I happened to see him at Pravan's school and we took some pics.

**** The princess is in gymnastics and that has been a great journey with a natural monkey for a child. I have so many more pictures that I will share in a upcoming post.

***** Been working out a lot more. I am now doing a hoop dance class. Yes I can dance and move, walk with a hoop. Great work out. Zumba is a Latin dance exercise class full of energy and a great workout.I am looking forward to the mastery Zumba class on Saturday at Gold's Gym on Longley Lane. If you are in the Reno area maybe you can stop by and join in on the fun. My best class is the trampoline class that kicks butt. I still doing my body sculpting with weights twice and week and now I will include water aerobics.My spin and body sculpt class is brutal and I swear I cried through part of it. It hurt and burned so bad but it is all good.

**** School is out now. Field trips, classroom time and homework has kept me hopping. Got two cute baskets made up for the teacher and an awesome school bus driver. Filled with yummy goodies and a great container they can use always. I am looking forward to no real other than my own. No more nagging in the morning or racing to catch the bus or packing creative lunches. OOOOHHH it feels like so much pressure is off. It will be a great summer with lots of fun stuff happening.

Priyasha had to hug his teacher too.

*** Cub Scouts has been great for the Prince. He is officially a wolf cub and graduated from a tiger cub. So exciting.It was a huge ceremony and deserves it's own post so be on the look out for that.

***** Been cleaning house from inside out. Every draw and room. Still a long way to go but it is looking better. No better feeling than recycling, reducing and re-using. I do not have pics of this as I have a long long way to go. Maybe the end of summer I can do a post on all my drawers. Yeah right that will be "Mission Impossible " or " Mission Accomplished " We'll see.

**** Been scrapbooking a lot more.

*** Changed and re-arranged all the kids furniture. Princess got a double bed. For being three she went from a crib to a toddler bed to a daybed (twin size ) and now to a double bed. Luckily I had all these sizes available to me. For the full bed all I had to buy was a headboard. Pictures to come soon.

**** Moved kids folded shirts, pants from draws to hangers. Much easier, way neater and they can reach the new lower rod. Life is good. I actually enjoy doing laundry a little more.

**** had three four jobs. Quit the concession stands to work at the Bistro. I loved it there on the weekends. I still babysat for two different families and I still do that. I had to quit the bistro as it conflicted with the family schedule. I was pissy about that but I love my freedom and family time on the weekends. **** Been chatting with a nice young lady on the Internet who lives in Poland and has been teaching me how to make Kanzashi. It is a great way to make flowers out of ribbon squares. I will share that too in the future.

**** Planning a quilt for Priyasha's bed now.After going through about a hundred quilt patterns and books I think I found the right pattern. More to come on this later........

****The best thing ever is I have my new baby my D300 which I have been saving for these past two years. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband that supports me in having such an expensive toy. I love it and will show you some pics soon.

There are so many more things I have not mentioned but this combined left me with little time to use the bathroom and that created other issues that I will not mention here. So I have had to sit back and re evaluate my way of life. I am under control once more and will blog more often. I have so much to share with the world and all my loyal followers. Thanks for stopping by and reading about a day in life as a mom.

Free Spirit !!!!

Official thank you from the food bank

Today I am very pleased to share with the world a formal thank you to my kids from the food bank. I hope that we will be able to top this number next year. We still have a few months to add to the total for this year. I will keep you posted on that effort. For now here is the nice letter that was sent to my kids.

April 8, 2009 Pravan and Priyasha Landry xxxx Willow Ranch Trail Reno, NV 89523 Dear Pravan and Priyasha, On behalf of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, thank you for organizing and coordinating the food drive during the Easter Egg Hunt at Summit Ridge Park. The food drive generated 339 pounds of food valued at $1.49 per pound for a total value of $505.11 With the help of your generous contribution, we have been able to feed over 65,000 people in Northern Nevada – almost 1 out of 10 people in the area. We primarily feed seniors on fixed incomes and families with children. These groups make up 87% of the people we are able to supply with food. I also want to take this time to thank you for your effort in 2008 when your Easter Egg Food Drive collected 246 pounds of food for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. In addition to the over 100 partner agencies, we also provide food through several outreach programs. These programs include but are not limited to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and Kids Cafe. The Commodity Supplemental Food Program staff and volunteers deliver boxes as far away as Eureka, Battle Mountain, Gerlach and Hawthorne. These boxes are for income eligible seniors. Approximately 30 boxes are also delivered each month to home bound seniors here in the Truckee Meadows. One gentleman in poor health eagerly awaits his box as this food is not just a supplement for him; it is the food he will live on for the next month as his meager veteran’s pension covers little more than his rent. The Kids Cafe programs serve an evening meal to children between 12 months and 18 years of age during the school year and a lunch meal during the summer. This summer at a food site, a record number of 182 children lined up in the extreme heat to receive a meal. Thank you again for your support and we look forward to our partnership in the future. Sincerely, Bill Kolton Bill Kolton Volunteer and Events Coordinator

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in the pride and joy Todd and I have for our kids.

Free Spirit !!!!