The 3 bears minus Goldilocks

Mama Bear says "Who's been sleeping in my bed?"

And nobody responds.

She smiles,

She laughs,

and then she grabs the camera(of Course).

Mama Bear was so surprised to see such sweet sleeping baby bears.

She wondered why they all went so quietly to bed.

To her surprise, This is why.

She loves her little bears and will talk about these special times for years to come.

Blessings

Soap, Water and................

What do you do with Soap and Water? Yeah, you probably said shower or bath. That's a good answer but not what I was shooting for. Here at the Haskins House we use soap and water a little differently.

Yep, It is used as a play toy. Weird, yeah, fun, absolutely. Check out these imaginative boys I have. They made the best of a sunny, lazy day that all wanted to stay home and enjoy each others company. It makes me smile to see them doing things I did as a kid. My little brother and I did this many times. OH how I miss being young and care free. Seeing these guys interact with other makes me miss my brother more and more. It has been almost a year since I have seen him. Watch this little video of my 3 baby boys.

Notice what Ziggy is doing? Yeah, adding more! There can never be enough that's for sure. Also notice the bottle. It started out full 30 minutes prior to shoot. Great fun. I just laughed and smiled

.

Do you see the flying Omega in this one? What about the terror on Ziggy's face in this one?

Who needs a slip a slide anymore, these boys have a trampoline.

WOW, They even hover too. I sure have some talented kids.

My sweet precious boys looking closely at bubbles. NO tub needed!!

It's a Wonderful Life

How are you doing? We are staying as busy as ever. With Zeus gone I try really hard to spend lots of time with my babies. They are very special to me and today God shined a light down on me and opened my eyes to something I haven't seen before. Nothing in life is important other than our families. I have always cherished this but today, I had an open heart and realized the only things I need are these 4 beings and my husband. Nothing more, nothing less. Today I got to sleep in til like 8:30 waking up to see 4 smiling happy, kissy faces all over my bed snuggling with me, their mom. WOW, what a wonderful feeling. They wanted to be with me.Oh how I love these special moments. The holiday weekend always comes with advantages, and the pool opening being one of them. The kids and I took a short little drive over to the base pool at 11am. They were so excited to get into that water. Here at our base pool they are required to take a swim test and then based on how well they do on the test they are given one of 4 different color wrist bands. Zero, Omega and Zulu all jumped in and got tested. This being the very first time in the water in 9 months I was leery of how they would do. Well to my surprise, Zero and Omega both got the top color, blue. They were so happy. Zulu is still a little rusty but did great too and got the second color, yellow. I was so proud of all of them for trying and finishing. Ziggy will be at the bottom for a short while but I am confident Zeus will work with him and he will be moving right on up. With armbands on, the sunscreening began. Standing in a row like little ducks each child helped the one in front spread sunscreen on his/her back and body. It really was cute. I wish I got pictures of it but I was in the row too. We ended up staying there for 5, yes 5 hours swimming up a storm and playing with lots of friends, well not Twinkle. Days like these I feel like I could use 3 more sets of eyes. Trying to make sure everyone is safe and in the same place and is minding their manners and sharing and all that stuff that goes through our(moms) heads. We had lunch courtesy of the staff and the kids bounced in a bounce house and slid down a big huge blow up water slide. What a great day.



Later once we had showered and dressed into clean clothes I decided to get a little shopping done. We ran to the grocery store/Commissary and then stopped by the Starbucks for a few Frappucinos, which the babies absolutely love.

I wanted to finish off strong and enjoy the evening weather so I loaded up all four kids and all four kids bikes and took them to the nearest air pump. Each bike needed air after not being ridden over the winter months. What a packed Van! Thank goodness Zeus bought that thing. Then we came back home and took the bikes to the empty parking lot behind the house and away they flew. It was like heaven to them. They were riding all over and loving it. Lots of waves and HUGE smiles had me so very happy. They each shared their bikes with each sibling. It was like musical bikes out there. Boys on girls bikes and girls on Boys bikes. How fun!!! At that very moment, watching the joy, the Lord spoke to me assuring me that life is just the way it is suppose to be and letting me know these beautiful faces are just what I need in this world and all I need in this world. So today's motto is fitting since Zeus is away, his favorite movie as I lay here thinking of him, It's a Wonderful Life. So wonderful. So full. So Haskins!!!

Potty Training 101

Oh yeah, Potty training has commenced for little Ziggy. He has been doing it off and on for the last few weeks. I however seem to be the worst trainer ever. I have been so lucky to have a married a very patient man that loves to potty train our children. Well, our boys anyways. Zero, basically potty trained herself. She hated to be wet, she hated to be dirty, we could not get her out of diapers fast enough. She never liked to get herself dirty. Sand, dirt, splashing in water, definitely were not her cup of tea. We took her to Florida when she was 2 and she flipped out when Zeus tried to put her in the sand. It was really funny. So, she never really had a problem with the potty.

Zeus worked very hard to get Omega and Ziggy to train while I was away both times. I am oh so thankful to him for pressing the issue. Although Omega has got to be one of the toughest potty trainee I have ever heard of. He didn't care. Making a mess in his pants was not a problem, he did not even tell you either. You had to receive a phone call from his Pre-kindergarten teacher asking you to come change him. Oh Boy was it tough with him. Yikes, so glad Zeus was around then. Ziggy, he lasted about 5 days and the deed was done, unlike Omega months and months. Ziggy, however is beginning to fall in Omega's footsteps. I am really not thrilled about this at all. But this time, it is all me. Zeus is out of the country again and Mommy has to be the trainer and boy, o boy, I am not the best at all. This is really a struggle for me. But I must tell you, Ziggy and I went shopping for a while yesterday and he went diaperless or with his underoos and came back clean as a whistle. WOO HOO, He is now beginning to feel the pee pee urge but not the poo poo urge. A couple weeks ago he got off the potty after telling me he finished and I came to clean him up only to find the big "poop" on the floor directly in front of the toilet. Yeah, we have some serious training yet to accomplish. But in my defense, he is standing up in front of the toilet and peeing like a male should and for that I am a super proud Momma. I will continue this journey until mid June when I am schedule to take a cruise with my grandmother and Zeus will be home with all 4 babies. I have complete faith in him that when I come home Ziggy will be almost finished training, cause he's good like that. Go DADDY!!!

Childhood and long distance

Today was a glorious day. I took advantage of some much needed lounge time. The kids and I pretty much hung out all day and stayed home. It was strange but absolutely wonderful because we had nothing on the books for once. So we lounged in our pj's and played. I watched and listened as my 4 babes played house with dolls using bedrooms for apartments and dishtowels for diapers. It truly was super cute to see each one of them taking care of their very own baby.

Now, lets hope they wait until they are adults to do it for real. Then at the drop of a hat they were running around the house on all fours. Yes, they all became cute little puppies. Barking and wagging those little tails booties of theirs. It took me back about 18 years. Oh my word, writing that down just made me feel so stinking old. Anyways, as a child I would spend the majority of my summers with my grandparents and at my Meemaws house she kept most of the grandkids throughout the summer. At one point she had more than 7 of us at a time. Me, being one of the older ones, I liked to be the boss so I liked to do it my way. We would play dogs as well, but I was the owner. Uh huh, that was me, bark for water, paw for food, yelling at them to stop fighting and get in their cages. It is and forever will be one of the fondest memories I hold from my childhood. Watching my very own babies doing it brought giant smiles to my face as those instant photos flashed in my mind. Oh the fun we had. I love it when the imagination of my children shines through. It does restore my hope in today's children. I feel as though so many kids grow up so fast and do not get the opportunity to use their surrounding and combine that with their imagination to entertain themselves. As the day went on the imagination turned to science professing. Yes, they were creating their very own science projects using their toys. Zero and Omega even created a domino effect with a chair and the floor using VHS tapes. It was very funny and so cute to see the hard work that they put into it. They even counted and labeled each tape. What sweet munchkins I have. Later on we I decided that we were going to go to the store and each pick out a cup of ice cream, a coke and grab some chips so that we could have a movie night and munch on the guacamole I made earlier in the afternoon.

It was fun to sit with the kids and relax and do a little math with Zulu while we watched a cute kids movie. OH, how wonderful my life can be. I am still sad that Zeus is gone and we have not gotten to talk to him on the phone in several days. He misses so much when he is gone on these business trips. We just miss spending time with him. The couch is not near as crowded with 5 as it is with 6.

Ziggy is really having a rough a time with Zeus gone. I think he cries ohhh, about 8 times a day about every little thing that happens. The poor little guy just misses his pop and does not know how to let out his feelings other than crying at every.little.thing. Although him and I are getting a lot of cuddle time in because he comes running with every tear that falls.

We are all holding on quite well for now. Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep all of this together until Zeus can make it back safely. Enjoy your weekend.

Tiny Task Tuesday

Welcome to another episode of Tiny Task Tuesday. My own version of pay it forward. This is a simple way for you to feel like you are making a difference in America's future. I challenge you to step up and do one thing a week every week to help someone. It can be as simple as grabbing the mail for them, raking the grass, mowing the lawn, or washing the car. There does not need to be any money involved just your time and effort and a smile on your face. Try it. It is such a wonderful feeling.

This week I would like to highlight a blogger that exemplifies the very thing I am talking about. She did something simple and all the people around her stepped up and made a huge difference in someones life. One small thing to them but a huge thing to the person in need, a single mother in this case. Hop on over to This is the fun part and read her amazing story of selflessness.

Keep up with all these tiny Tasks, I look forward to reading more of your own stories. Like my friend, Charisse, thank you for nominating this blog and if you find any more great stories feel free to nominate them for my weekly Tiny Task Tuesday.

Have a great week and try something simple or tiny.

Blessings

Mothers Day

First off I just have to say Happy Mother's Day to all you amazing women out there that have been graced as moms.

(My first Mother's Day in Atlanta, Ga)

If you read often you will know that Zeus is currently on a business trip and plans to be gone for more than a month. He usually caves to the pressure of the kids wishes or shall I say demands on what they want to do for me on that glorious day. It is really quite funny. It makes me smile. Although this year there will be no smiling about kids forcing Dad to help because he is gone. Lucky him!! I know that is what all you guys are saying right now. Really, with all seriousness, we were suppose to go on a short cruise of the Potomac but Daddy being Daddy did not make the reservations and when i called this morning it was all booked up. Oh well, so I thought today we always lay back and relax on Saturdays, lets be spontaneous. So I get all the kids rounded up and dressed and buckled in there seats and off we go. I really wanted to get a couple new shirts for the cruise that my wonderfully sweet grandmother is taking me on in June. So I took the kids to The Mall, no not the National Mall, the shopping mall and yes I had to explain that to my children. They were excited to go see the Lincoln memorial and Washington monument. Seriously, my kids do not know what a "real" mall is, wow that is jacked up. Oh well, a few little upset babies later we arrive at the mall with a plan. It was going well until we are in line at H&M waiting to check out and Zulu yells, Ziggy pooped. Oh yeah, loud as he could. I hush him up quickly and explain we are going to the restroom as soon as we leave the store. We get into the store and I realize I do not have another diaper to replace the poopy one on his butt. OH boy, the wheels start turning in my head, Hmmmm, how do I solve this one? Then I think oh yeah I have a maxi pad in my purse. Great, but what is it going to stick too? Then I decide one of the big kids is gonna have to help me. Zero was wearing a skort type thing so she was covered, so I asked or more like told her to take off her panties and give them to me. She was very upset and extremely hesitant but with a little coaxing I got them. I attached the pad to the panties and swiftly slipped them on Ziggy. Oh boy, what a situation. He made it 4 hours with the pad on and when we got home it was completely dry. WOW, way to go Ziggy.

(Cherry Blossoms in D.C) (Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA)

The kids and I stopped and ate lunch at Chili's since I had a gift card and they were starving, or thought they were starving. It was a wonderful lunch. They were all well behaved and ate beautifully. If only they behaved like this all the time. I got lots of blank stares and people commenting on me taking 4 children to lunch. This was very special to me though. I had a great day, got some new shirts, spent shopping time with my babies and got lots of great fashion tips from them as well. So my Mother's Day will not be what I had deeply hoped it would be but today was better than I could have imagined. My babies and me. I think we will take a hike out at Great Falls Park and have a picnic lunch.

(Hanging out around our house)

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful ladies and if your day does not go as planned just remember those babies, always your babies, love you, appreciate you, thank you and will always want you to feel special on your day.

(My Mother and I in Hawaii, 2005)

Congratulations and Happy Day

Friends and Family Friday

Once again another Friday is upon us. Today I am a little sad because Zeus had to leave again for another month long world tour. This is extremely sad also because he has only been home 10 days from his last month long world tour. But I must be strong and carry on with some sort of normalcy for these 4 little beings that call me mom. Today, I bring back my Family and Friends Friday tribute. This is a tribute to my personal friends and family that have made a difference in my life. It is a living tribute to tell them all the things that don't normally get said until the coffin rolls into the church. I despise holding back and not sharing peoples accomplishments while they are still living and breathing on this planet. Why wait. This is my own time to share my wonderfully crazy and somewhat bizarre family and Friends with you.

I hope you enjoy and I hope you tell your family and friends what they mean to you before you can not.

Congratulations D.D.M

Today I have chosen my grandfather. I have few pictures to share but will do my best. D.M is one of the smartest persons I know and have ever known. D.M, I think you are unbelievably astonishing. You amaze me at what you can recall from your youth. That is probably the greatest thing I love about you. Your ability to tell stories. I love and have always loved sitting at the dinner table listening to you tell me how mean you were to your sisters and how life was in the forties and fifties. I can imagine being there as you tell about the water hose or the frog. I remember going fishing with you in Colorado, wow what a beautiful place that was. Thank you for teaching me how to worm a hook, reel in a line and set a hook. It was always wonderful to look forward to our yearly summer vacation/trip. I must tell you, I loved having you as our chauffeur. You maneuvered that motorhome like it was a bike. It was so easy for you to get it in and out of restaurant parking lots and camp sites. We always knew that Grandpa would be the one to tell us a scary fire side story. Something about you that still amazes me today is your knack for organizing things. No matter what it is, apples, shovels, pencils, paper, books or random tools you always had a place for everything. I do not know anybody else that draws outlines of tools on the Garage walls or kitchen drawers. How clever of you. One of the funnest times with you that I will forever remember is our summer out at Twin Points with all the black cats and coke cans. You had all these great experiments for us to try and they included explosives, that was totally cool. You gave me my first true taste of flower gardens. Grandpa, nobody else will be able to replace you nor will they match the amount of things you have taught me throughout the years. Seriously, you showed me how to roll up a water hose just so. You showed me how to build a fire and what type wood to use. Although, I am not good with the organizing yet, I know along the way I will remember and be grateful for your instruction. I think you have had an absolutely full life. From running track in high school to traveling the country I am most grateful that you have shared your life with me and that you were so selfless in supporting Nana in bringing me up. Thank you for putting up with me along the way. I appreciate all that you have done for me all these glorious years. I thank you for cutting me glass shelves for my entertainment center, I thank you for always keeping the pool clean, I thank you for all the pointers you have given me along the way. You have always been so creative in your own way. I will never look at a rock the same way again. I will never look at clouds as just clouds either. Grandpa, you have given so much to others that I want you to know you have shown me to give of myself. Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you for standing by that pretty old Granny. HAHAHA, She really needs you and I know you know this. It has been awesome to see you navigate through life and watch how the 2 of you respond with every new situation that arises, you just get through it. Man, I hope I will be able to react that way as I age. Please know that I am most appreciative for everything you have done for me. Everytime I ever see a little smoky your face comes to mind. I can never look at a sausage biscuit without thinking of you and how you loved to eat those. I remember one special moment that you and I had together that allowed me to feel like a lady. After you returned from a trip you took me to dinner at Steak and Ale, just me and you, all dressed up as a thank you for watering all the flowers and plants. It was so wonderful. That was probably the most meaningful Shirley temple I have ever had. Thank you for making me feel special. Thank you for supporting me and my decisions. I love you. I know you are still here and dealing with the wonderful medical issues old age gives but I know you are still here and know what is going on. Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you for being you. There are so many memories I will take with me on my life journey. I hope to be able to share stories with my kids and grandkids like you have shared with me. Congratulations on being my FFF recipient this week.

God Bless

Tiny task Tuesday

Welcome Back TTT

It has been a little while of hiatus but I am back with a new reason to pursue my journey to better America, one tiny task at a time. This is simple all you need to do is find someone or something to help out using no money. This is something small like bring in the knocked over trash cans, pick up trash in a parking lot, take the neighbor to drop off her library books or divert the 2 year old out of the street. These are truly simple or tiny little tasks. All I ask is that you do one task a week. Only one no less no more.

This week I want to highlight my F-I-L. While we were on the beach a group of musicians were shooting a video near us. They had all kinds of equipment and there were many of them. They walked away to another location and my FIL noticed they left a video tripod behind. Several hours after they left we were packing up the cars and FIL picked up the tripod and turned it in to the parking attendant that was on duty. Just as he walked away a white van pulled up asking about a video tripod that was left behind. It was returned to its rightful owner. What a great good deed or Tiny task.

You see something simple once a week and you can change someone's life even help them save a little money. Blessings

Step up and try it, you might just like it.

What is love, honor, unions?

Tonight I sit here wondering those simple questions. What is love? I read the dictionary's 14 descriptions of what the word means but honestly what does it mean to us. How true is it to love someone as much as you love yourself? Can you really do that for an entire lifetime? I am amazed when I read or see news of marriages that have lasted longer than 50 years. Were those 2 people genuinely happy the entire time and if not how in the world did they get through those rough times? My mind is racing right now and I know you must be confused but trust me, I am too. I can not seem to make everything right. Whether it is feelings or events, I seem to be falling short of the goal. I looked up some verses in the bible to try to help myself feel better or understand better God's meaning of love. But, he is something we will never be, the all forgiving, all LOVING, all excepting of beings. I will never be able to wrap my head around him. He is so awesome. But then I think, wow, he created this thing called love and marriage and wonder how we make the hike through the dense and dark forest only on trust. Do we ever know if we are with our soul mate? How do we know we chose the right person? What is the feeling of completeness? Are society's expectations more than we can create? What does binding as one flesh really and truly mean to the married? How do we travel today's obstacles as married couples? I never wonder why and am never surprised by the high divorce rate. I know that I never really understood to true meaning of love, marriage and lifetime unions. How do you understand it? Does marriage really mean only 60% happiness or does it mean 100% happiness? I was at a wedding last summer and the Minister mentioned times where spouses would give 100% and 0%. I believe this wholeheartedly to be true. only because I have lived it, not because a preacher said so. But my question is how long should you be the 100% giver? How long should you be allowed to give 0% or nothing. Marriage is a union, a creation of 1 from 2 but how long should 1 take the burden of 2? I know you must be reeling with your questions or answers. I am just pondering what life really is about. I being a loving mother and wife love my family more than ANYTHING in this entire world. I do mean this with all my heart. I want nothing more than to be a happy family. I want to be that model for my children, that model I never had. But having never had it or seen it until I was an adult I am not sure how to make it. Does that make any sense? I want to make sure the decisions I make now do not adversely affect these 4 beautiful beings I so desperately am trying to mold into responsible, productive members of society. I want them to see what true love is and what them to desire that. I want more than anything to understand what I couldn't. This is a very narrow, rocky, slippery and down right scary path which I walk. You must think I am nuts to be thinking about this now that my babes are all under 10 but I feel now more than ever is the time they soak up the most information and pick up the most habits of their elders. I am not sure how to hold their hands through the life of relationships but I want to start now so they can feel confident when it is their own time. I want to have all the answers to this questions that will soon be coming. I am trying to prepare myself for those tough ones. So I sit here at 2 o clock in the morning, not able to sleep a wink asking myself if I am doing this correct, if there is a correct way. I pray to God that he leads the right way and provides me the right answers when the time comes. I am hoping the kids wait several more years before these questions come flying but for now I think I will be doing my own research in love, relationships and marriage. The bible has been extremely helpful for guiding me to the right answers but my brain does not work properly anymore. I have lots of crossed wires that misfire and blah, blah, blah, that is another blog topic for another day. Anyways Pray for me, pray for my mind to relax, pray that the stress of raising these children does not completed make me brain dead, pray that the questions come later rather than sooner. Pray that I can be ok with my own relationship. Pray that my own submission and happiness and journey down this uncharted land be successful and mind blowing. I realize you must be thinking holy cow, what kind of drugs is this girl taking. I assure you I am not on anything not even any alcohol. This is my natural thinkings and my honest self just trying to manage a life and raise a family. I feel so uneducated to be raising 4 children. I wonder how we all were raised since there are no pre-requisites to becoming a parent. Something tells me we should prepare our youth a little more about the pathway to parenthood. So bare with me here, I just had all this craziness on my mind tonight and thought what better place to relieve the stress, pressure and pain than right here in my blog where I am the boss. I am the writer. I thank you for being here and reading with me and supporting me. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers as I struggle to get through life hoping I make the right choices to set a good example for the 4 beings watching my every move. Blessings to you and yours and Happy Monday