There is no Dana, only Zuul.

This seems to be the never ending catch phrase out of my mouth these days.
" there is no Dana, there is only Zuul".

Mike is afraid when he comes home. He peaks into the kitchen timidly.
"Um...whos there?" he asks with trepidation.
If its been a good day I will reply " Hey Mikey". The conversation will progress from there.

If its been a bad day, the repose follows "there is no Dana only Zuul".
(If you are not getting this post, this is a quote from the movie Ghostbusters.Zuul is a demigod and the gate keeper of Gozar the Gozarian. She takes the shape of a large demonic dog. It was a real demi-god worshipped around 6000 BC by the Hittites, the Mesopotamians and the Sumerians also.)
Then my head spins around and I shoot red lasers from my eyes, then implode myself into a ball of flames and scream hideously. (ok, ok. maybe its not that crazy, but close)

All this because no one will eat what I make for dinner.- Why, Why wont anyone eat normal things like spaghetti or chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, or rice? Why cant we have hamburger or cheese? Why cant we eat fresh things instead of frozen dinners? Is it really too much to ask for all 5 of us to eat the same thing for once?
Dinner Drama. Its the story of my life. The thorn in my side. The axis of evil. I hate dinner time. The worst part is, I love to cook. Its something Im good at. No one appreciates it, cuz they cant eat onions,celery, sour cream, peas,tomatoes, CHEESE (did I already mention this?), green things, peppers, salsa, etc...

Im Zuul again tonight.

Hymn Angels

Have you ever heard the hymn angels? I do, all the time. Isnt that odd? I swear I will be in the strangest places and hear the strangest things. I was standing in Manhattan over New Years, looking at time square, seeing all the people and the song
"Oh, If I were an Angel" came to my mind. If you aren't familiar with this song, its a song about preaching the gospel to all the world. Another moment, on the same trip to the city, I looked at the Statue of Liberty and heard the song "somewhere" from west side story. "Theres a place for us. Somewhere a place for us"...it brought me a moment of reflection. Strange I know.- Anyway this kind of thing happens to me all the time. Sometimes its not even church songs that pop into my head, but the song usually brings me peace or enlightenment of some kind. Just touching my soul in some way.
So, in light of this I wanted to share a little moment I had last night. I was laying in my bed thinking about what would happen to my children if I died. Who would take care of them, what would they remember about me, what would my funeral be like?- Have I declared any of my thoughts and wishes about these matters?
So...Im finally going to put my living will together. Get things organized.
Hopefully, Im not having these thoughts because of impending or looming events. It just got me thinking. One thing that I wasnt sure that I had ever mentioned to my husband was the songs I wanted played at my funeral. They are mainly songs that have significance to my life. Ya know, stuff the hymn angels play over and over again at the right moments.
So, with that said I created a montage of songs in my player to share some info about them. (Please excuse the major cheesiness of this post, but when I am gone someday, know I will haunt you if my wishes are not met!)

1) The impossible dream- I want this song played or sung at my funeral. Its always been one of my favorites. I once heard it played on a cello, no words were being sung, but I knew every line. It pierced my very core to hear them internally.
You can all dress up in costumes from the play ( Man of La Mancha) if you want. I wont mind. :)
2) Out of Africa- My mom played my the soundtrack to this movie on tape every night as a little girl. The opposite side of the tape had the Man from Snowy River soundtrack. I loved the tape. I still feel the security and love of a family when I hear this song. It brought me such comfort to hear it snug in bed with my family safe in our house. It should also be played at my funeral.
It wasnt until my adult years that I saw the movie. Ahem...(clearing my throat). Good thing. Its a passionate movie to say the least. Two words Robert Redford!

3) Romeo and Juliet- My mother played this on the piano all the time growing up. It still reminds me of her. Love you, momma!
4)Pride and Prejudice- My favorite movie and book. This song takes me away.
5)Some Enchanted Evening- South Pacific is my favorite musical. Its a classic that always makes me cry, laugh and love a little bit more. This was the song Mike and I danced to on our wedding day. It will always evoke beautiful memories of that day, and the day we saw each other from across the room. Engaged 3 weeks later. Married less than 4 months after our first date. Still happy 8 years later.- "Once you have found him, never let him go!"
6)Baby Mine- I listened to this and cried for the first week after the twins were born. Im not sure why I subjected myself to the pain of it. Especially when I left the hospital without any babies. I wasnt sure from day to day if either of them would survive. It was torture to hear it. But, I needed it for some reason. Looking back on it, I think I needed to know that even if the very worst happened "rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine".-It still brings tears to my eyes to hear it. I cant separate this song from Zach and Tanner.
7)This could be Heaven- Again, this song will forever be associated with Ashers birth. I turned this song on when I brought him home for the first time. I laid there and listened to it on my ipod and just stared at him. Thinking "I am the mother of three boys. I wasnt supposed to ever have any kids. I actually have a family. And this surprise baby is AMAZING!". It really was heaven. Still is.

Have you heard any hymn angels?-Im sure you have. Im a little crazy about music and its influences. But, its how I make connections I guess. :)

What have we been doing?

There has been lots going on here. Here are some pictures of a few things.

Uncle Jake and Aunt Mariangel came on New Years Eve. We made special italian sodas with blue sugared rims (Zach picked the blue) for our midnight toast. Our guests had been awake for nearly 36 hours when they arrived so everyone was in bed before midnight except for Mike, who watched the ball drop alone for the the 5th year in a row.- I am not exactly a night owl anymore. Plus, I cant stand the the ridiculous new years shows on tv. BORING!! We were so glad they came to visit. I didnt get many pictures of their trip here (sorry!). We did all the local stuff and then also hit Manhattan for a little freezing cold weather and fun. The winter isnt the best time to see the area, but we found things to keep us busy and had some great memories. We just loved having them here to spend time with us and the kids. We miss them lots! Thanks for coming you guys!!



We took them to see Mr. Bo Jangles the enormous bunny at a local pet store.



We ate at Big Wong Kings (on Mott and Canal in Chinatown, NYC). I had the best meal out of everyone.Lucky me. I stuck with a classic, Sesame Chicken. It was yummy!
Mike had duck and pork. Looked better than it tasted. Big Wongs is definately an experience. I enjoyed it!

The Pennsylvania Farm show started. It was great! Oh those milkshakes. They taste great, but they are hard to stomach when you are staring at the belly and utters of cows, with all their smells and sounds.










This is a sculpture entirely made from butter.


I have been teaching lots of Zumba lately. These are a couple pics from the Ward Enrichment Zumba night. I was surprised that I got through this class without alot of gyration and chest shimmy's. I think we got through it without offending anyone!!! Kudos to me, I was really nervous about that.





And....drumroll please...The boys got a new bed. YIPPEE! It will also make two twin beds by putting a large headboard with a small footboard. Isnt that neat! I really love it, and so do they!
Thats what we have been up to lately.-

Christmas and Stuff

I have been so lazy about blogging for the past three weeks. I had Holiday brain cramps. You know, that feeling that you cant think about anything important or it will ruin the wishy-washy feeling of holiday glee. And you might never leave reality behind again, so you just sit aimlessly staring at your TV screen, eating anything and everything, praying that the next gift or knock on the door will be life altering. Like a pair of ruby slippers or the Publisher Clearinghouse sweepstakes winner, or the HGTV New Mexico Dreamhouse winner (BTW, we didnt win! All that daily entering for nothing, shoot!). So, here I am playing catch up with pictures and events.
Seriously, I never thought I would be one of those stressed out Christmas goers, but this year I seemed to be on the verge of disaster at every turn this holiday.Maybe it had something to do with those DARN Zhu-Zhu Pet Hamsters the boys asked for. I spent endless hours trying to run to the store to get one before they were snatched by the greedy ebay whores, who sell their souls to make 40-60 dollar profits on a 10 dollar toy. Luckily, Santa had some for the boys Christmas morning, disaster averted.
(He told me he got up at 6 am to wait in line for them)

My biggest challenge was finding a gift for Mike. The kid gave me no help and told me that all he wanted for Christmas was a shovel!?! Really, a shovel. A Shovel??

Nevertheless, it all went fantastic and we were spoiled as usual. I honestly felt a twinge of guilt and sadness after looking around at all the items and thinking "There is a recession going on, and you wouldnt know it at our house.Can I be happy when there are so many sad and going without this Christmas?"- I am grateful for the blessings that are poured down upon us. The gifts from our family members and the generosity they show time and time again.- Truly, we are spoiled.
Thanks to all! We are aware that there are so many without. I need to try harder to teach my children what the true meaning of Christmas is, because the gifts may not always be there. And that is not what is important. Can we be happy without all the stuff?- I hope we can. I think we can. I pray we can.

Anyhow, here are some photos to document the day. It was lots of fun. We had a snow storm the week before Christmas so we had some fun sledding in our yard. Z&T also got to play with daddys electric trains, which are reserved for special occassions.Lots of fun, hope yours was too!

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I couldnt resist

I couldnt help myself. I think these are funny. The boys love to watch themselves. So, here ya go. Oh, and yes, I know my heads messed up. Oh well...Merry Christmas!

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Attention Chamberlain Siblings

We drew names for Christmas gift giving.- Here are the results, not all of them were put in the montage. Have fun and be creative!

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Giver/ Receiver

Eden- Madison
Taylor- Hunter
Cole - Ariels Family
Neal- Maleah's Family
Maleah - Cole's Family
Ariel- Taylor's Family
Madison- Neal
Hunter- Eden's Family

I thought this was so funny. Who sings it better. Tanner or Asher?

Tea Cup

Zachary asked me to read him an old book he found on the shelf. It was all about babies.

When we got to this page, I asked him what each of the babies were doing in the pictures.

He said pointing to each one "This one is dressing up like her mommy, and this one is putting his socks on". Then he says in a frantic voice "Oh man, this ones pooping in a teacup!!!"

I couldnt stop laughing.