Hi-YA CowBOY

All of my kids have been blessed with larger than life personalities. My youngest however may have just a little somethin' extra! Today on our way out from Costco we spotted a Costco employee that was getting ready to head out and round up the carts. He was wearing his bright orange vest and a straw hat (I can only guess probably to keep out the sun). Before I even had a chance to notice him sitting on the side Avery yells out... " HI YA COW....BOY. with all the western drawl and inflection she can muster. When I start to laugh (as does everyone within ear shot) She turns to me and says "What mommy? He is a cowboy! See his hat?" It was the funniest thing! It totally brought a smile to his face, mine too.... but she does that everyday anyway!

Sum....Sum... Summer Time

I have now resigned myself to the fact that I completely suck at blogging during the summer. Accepting this fact and stating it out loud is quite therapeutic for me. I no longer feel like such a slacker when I put 1 maybe 2 pitiful little posts up per month. Having said this, here are a few of the things we've been up to lately.

Some much needed swimming lessons

Fireworks.... of course!

Lots and Lots of T-ball

And LAST but definitely not least.... My baby girl turned 3

(she was insistent that she have cupcakes and not a birthday cake!)

She had a swimming/Tinkerbell party complete with Tinkerbell swimming suit and dress up costume.

I love summer time!!!! Is there any wonder why? It just doesn't get any better than this.

Not so glad to be back

I'm sad to say that our trip to Hawaii has come and gone. We are back from our week long stay on Kauai. People have been asking me if we had fun on our trip. I guess the appropriate reply is yes, even though this doesn't really begin to cover how much fun we had. After ten years it is strange to find yourself alone with your spouse for a whole week. No one is there to interrupt 10 times before you can finish a sentence. It is SO nice!

We stayed on Poipu beech on Kauai. It was rated No 1. beech by the travel channel last year. Now I know why! This was our view from our room. Just around the corner was the sandy part of the beach and the cabana chairs where we spent many relaxing hours!

We paddled down the Wailea river and hiked to the "secret falls". We were so hot and sweaty! It was a cool experience, but required WAY too much effort for a vacation activity! Part of that was due to the guide (ask me about it later)

We also took a little zodiac boat out around the island to the side of the island called the Na'pali Coast. The only way you can get there is by boat it was pretty awesome. We took the bumpiest smallest boat that proved to be more of an adventured. We got to go into little sea caves that the big boats couldn't go into. It was well worth the sore butts that we got in return! Then we snorkeled along a reef over there and visited an ancient Hawaii village that many locals aren't even allowed to go to. (This was only because our guide was part of the rehabilitation project)


We spent plenty of time relaxing and watching the sunset (or sunrise... we had trouble sleeping in over there) Did I mention we had an amazing room! These pictures were taking from the balcony in my room.

We had so much fun. Just hanging out with each other. I've already started planning our 20 year anniversary trip. That one is going to to take a passport for sure! : )

I won't torture you with endless photos. I'll just leave you with one more thing. This video is of me boogie boarding. So FUN!!!! This turned out to be one of my favorite things to do! Who knew! Turn on your sound to hear Michael cracking up while I very un-expertly ride my wave up the beach! Enjoy!

" I have NO idea how she knows this!!!!"

We are finally settling into our summer routines. The first week or so we couldn't get into a groove and there was more than enough fighting to make me wish summer were already over!!!! We finally are getting used to be out for summer and most of our days are happily passing by in a flash. Sunday's however, are a little bit different. My girls LOVE church. Avery loves to get dressed up in her "princess dress" and go to her castle (which is what she calls the church bldg) Dylan however is a little bit less enthusiastic. I truly think that boys just can't sit still, be peaceful, and quiet for 3 whole hours. It's like asking girls to not talk for a whole day. JUST NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Dylan had a particularly bad day at church this weekend. He squirmed and talked through most of the first hour, and wiggled more than a lot during the next two. Even when I told him Numerous times to quit it. Who knows what he did during the 3rd hour, I couldn't see him then. (but I'm sure he wasn't behaving). Then after church I sent Haley to track him down so we could leave. She found him once and he ran a way. She found him again and he BIT her and ran away, by the time I found him I had more than had it!!! (Let's just say for his sake he was lucky to be within ear shot of all the people at church) When we got home I was telling Michael about all that happened while Dylan listened and looked at me with an amazed look on his face. Finally he turned to Michael and said "I have no idea how she knows all of this!" Not I'm sorry mom, not.... I'll do better next week. He just walked away to his room (for his time out )muttering "how do mom's know everything?"

How do moms know everything? It's just a gift I guess. (well maybe it's a curse)

And the winner is!

I just realized that I never informed all of you where we will be heading for our anniversary. After all of your helpful input I figure I owed it to you. After the whole pig flu thing we ruled out Mexico. Plus I didn't have our passports, and didn't leave enough time to get them here without rushing them (in other words lots of $$$) so that ruled out the Bahamas as well. Time frame helped rule out Europe. (I have issues about leaving the kids for very long.... I know I'm weird)

SO we are heading to Hawaii. This is where Michael was wanting to go from the start. Since we went to Maui on our honeymoon we figured we would try a new island. We're heading to Kauai. Plenty of beaches, waterfalls, snorkeling, alone time, surfing, hiking, and best of all! NO KIDS.

I know the kids will be well taken care of while we're gone by loving family members. Now if I can just wait for a couple of weeks.

Summer = Really Lame Blogging

Summer hasn't even officially begun but between end of school programs, last week of school activities. Really sick kids and reading my Kindle any free moments that leaves exactly no time for blogging.

On of our newest weird infirmity at our house is ear pain. (We are no strangers to ear pain) Haley, who is on her second set of ear tubes started having ear pain out of no where (this shouldn't be happening with ear tubes.) Then the pain stopped really abruptly and now her ear is draining bloody yucky stuff. Does this sound like a ruptured ear drum? Any of you ever had something like this?

Yippee bring on the summer fun.

Happy Mother's Day

I am a spoiled girl! I admit this.... openly and freely. I need to give my husband props, I know I have said this before, but he is the BEST gift giver EVER! This is what he gave me this year for Mother's Day.

It's a Kindle 2. You may or may not have heard about these. I LOVE to read. I buy a book a week, usually, and I am literally depressed when I don't have one to read.

So I've been researching (I'm a little crazy about researching things) for quite a while about these little guys. There are different brands and price ranges for these digital readers. The Kindle however seems to be the COOLEST one by far. (Of course it's also more expensive too) I mentioned this a while back to the hubby that I wished I had one. Guess what came in the mail today just in time for Mother's day. Needless to say I giggled like a girl and jumped up and down. (All of this was extremely funny to the neighbor and the UPS man)

Okay... enough blabbing. Here's what it does.

Holds e books (up to 1500 of them)
Instantly downloads them via the wi-fi for those of us with no patience.
Reads like a normal book REALLY it does. It's not like a computer screen. It has something to do with electronic ink.... Way too hi-tech for me to explain. Just REALLY REALLY cool.
Plus plenty of other cool things!


I've only had it for about 45 min and I already know how to use it, and I have a new book and I've finished the first chapter of my new book! YEA!

THANKS BABE!

End of the Year Craziness

The end of the school year is always crazy but for some reason this year seems worse than ever. For instance.... Haley's class at school is having something fun every day of the month to keep the last few weeks from dragging. So we have silent day, and cowboy day, game day (when you bring games from home) or something along those lines. All of this is fun and exciting but seems to becoming rather hectic, because on top of all of this Haley's teacher is also retiring this year and they are having something special for her everyday to show her teacher appreciating. (This is in addition to all the other stuff). Now.... I don't really mind all of the stuff they are doing for class, it's just that I am starting to feel like a juggler who has too many balls in the air. I'm afraid anymore and I'm gonna lose it!


So here's a list of what Haley needed for school today:

a donation for a gift card (teacher appreciation)
A note for her teacher from me and her dad telling her what we appreciated about her this year.
A winning paper airplane for the contest later today.
Her normal Homework
Her book for library day
Her other book that she reads everyday signed and read


Dylan needed

Snacks for the kids in his preschool class (2 different kinds enough for 12 kids)
His book that he reads everyday signed and read
Show and tell
His song memorized for the program next week
His speaking part memorized too


It just a good thing that Avery isn't in school yet because mom can't handle anymore things to remember or I might forget my own name!

Baby sitting co-op

So I was blog surfing for the first time in quite a while today and I came across something interesting on a friends blog. She was talking about a baby sitting co-op that she's part of. I've been wanting to do something like this for quite a long time but neverreally knew how to go about it. After reading about how well it works out I am ready to start one up. I asked her to email me all the info about it.

Her co-op works by people using tickets. You set a designated time that you will be at your house on a certain day (hers was 9-12 of Friday's). Every girl has a different time slot. Anyone can call and bring the kids over during that time as long as they have tickets to pay. Each hour earns you one ticket per child. Then all the tickets you earn are yours to use how and when you want to. The more kids you watch during your set time the more tickets you get. Shopping, Dr. Apt, a nap, girls day out. etc. etc.

You just need 4-5 people to start out with (but the more people you have the better!). You also give everyone a bunch of tickets and set up every one's time they want to commit to. What do you think? Any of you interested in something like this? I would be happy to start it up and get all the rules going if there are some of you out there who would like to do it. I know that this would be something really great for me. So what do you say? Anyone interested?

Dilemmas, Dilemmas

So coming up soon is my 10 year anniversary to my loving hubby (WOW, I'm getting old). I think that we should head off to somewhere warm and fun WITHOUT THE KIDS to celebrate! The problem is that I'm not sure where. How about some suggestions..... Seriously I really do need ideas. We went to Maui on the honeymoon and have thought about going back (this is where he is voting for), but I would really rather head somewhere new.

I have considered areas of Mexico but I am concerned about all of the problems down there. What do you guys think? Would you go? Any great areas that you've been to and would like to share? Thanks for all you help. I'll keep you posted if we make any decisions.

One Great Week

You know those weeks when you get totally spoiled and get to do all sorts of fun things? Now, it doesn't happen very often to me but every once in a while I get lucky. Here are a few of the fun things I've done.

1-A girls night out shopping with my sister where we laughed until they were ready to kick us out of the store (plus dinner at Cafe Rio... it doesn't get any better than that).
2- Then I went on a fabulous date with my hubby to dinner and a jazz game with some old friends.
3- Even now as I type this I am waiting for my turn on Rock band. All of my sisters are at my house hanging out, having a sleepover and I'm lovin it) The only thing that would have made this week better was if my one missing sister were able to come and play too. We missed you Lori. Maybe next week.

I'm need on the drums! Catch ya later.

Let's do some Bouncin'

Did you guys play with your cousins growing up? We did but very very rarely. In fact we actually only saw them once or twice a year. When we did actually get to see them we had so much fun! My sisters and I put a lot of effort into making sure our kids see each other A LOT more than we got to see our cousins (secretly we just want to hang out with each other, and the kids are a good extra reason! ) The problem is that when they all get together they are SO crazy. Bounce off the walls, drive their mothers and anyone else within a mile crazy. It usually only last for the first couple of hours of so. This time we outsmarted them and took them somewhere they could go wild and we could sit and drink kiwi-strawberry slushies and gab! Wooo hooo! Score one for the moms!

These are my way cute niece and nephew! Don't let the cute little pictures fool ya! These two could out run any kid anytime EASY! The only reason I even got such cute pictures of them sitting still was because I had the camera on action mode and I took like a million pictures and 1 caught them stilling still.

All of the kids had a blast! Mine however looked like this after about an hour. Notice none of them are actually still standing up!

Happy kids + happy moms = a really good Day!

My Apologies

Okay... sorry guys for making you look at pictures of creepy snakes for so long. We have been SO busy around here that blogging was all but forgotten. Now I'm back on a more normal schedule (I hope) and ready to resume my blogging ways.

On the plus side we've been having so much fun, and I have tons of pictures for ya. I won't post them all in the same post ( you'd probably be ready to kill me if I did.) Instead I'll take it slow and do a day at a time. Let's start with the Living Planet Aquarium.

We had a day off of school and this was the activity chosen by the kids. It was a little small but the kids LOVED it!!!! We saw a lot of cool things, but the hit of the day was touching the sting rays.

These two were very brave when it came to touching them. Haley was a little more hesitant. After some gentle coaxing from a very patient Aunt she was finally able to touch one. (Look how proud she looks! )

Then we moved on to see some more of the museum. This little guy was fascinated by everything. He wanted to read every label description and see every single exhibit. He's asked me at least 100 times in the past week if we could go back. With my new kids club membership I'm sure we will be back soon. (That's something for a whole different post.)

So there you have it. No more pictures of snakes. Sting Ray's may not be much better but it's a start right !?

The most DREADED pet of all.

So.... the boys decided they needed a new pet. Well, a dog was out of the question (too much work.) Our cats don't seem to live very long around here. So naturally the pet to get would be a Python. Right! I mean that's what sane logical people get for pets right? See, I knew I wasn't crazy when I told them normal people don't get snakes for pets. Yuck! Needless to say I don't love Legs, yep- that's what the kids named him was legs, since he didn't have any of course.

It was a huge compromise for me to allow this little beauty into the house. The catch is I don't have to do anything with it- EVER. Here are the rules

1- No feeding it! (which I've already done once, is it wrong to root for the mouse to live?)

2- No touching it ever (well, except for when Dylan can't reach him on the bottom of the cage to get him out)

3-If he gets loose Michael has to come home and catch him! (ummmm- yeah like that will happen! Dylan already came running in and told me he lost his snake. Guess where, No seriously just guess! MY BED! While searching for him in the covers he slithered out of my pillowcase! on to my HAND!!!!! And yes I did scream like a girl and ran around the room screaming.)

4- I NEVER have to clean the cage. ( Thing one I'm sticking to! I mean it!)

So as you can see. Now that the rules have been firmly established and followed we should have no problems. Welcome to the family Legs.

Happiest Place on Earth (Well Most of the Time)

Well we're back from our little jaunt to the Magic Kingdom. This trip was interesting to say the least. We had a fabulous time but also had a few hang ups. We were a little bit sick so that took a little bit of fun away from the trip. Dylan and Avery both had ear infections which would act up and make for some whiny kids at times. That didn't stop us though! Well it stopped Dylan a couple of times. A few times he crashed..... hard! For the most part it was a GREAT trip here are some of the highlights.

Now you tell me.... for someone who protested A LOT about going to Disneyland he sure looks like he's having fun huh!

Avery was WAY into Donald this trip (go figure) we hung out at Donald's house and she loved it.

One of my favorite moments of the trip was when she actually saw him. We were waiting in line and Avery was picking flowers through the railing (even though she wasn't supposed to!) She took off running and I thought I was going to have to chase after her. She had finally seen Donald and ran up to him and gave him her flower she had picked. It was SOOOOoooooo cute! He stopped and gave her kisses even though he was heading to break. She won't stop talking about it!

This little guy had a harder time at Disneyland this year. He had been sick before we left and then came down with an ear infection while we were there. He was always cold and kind of tired. The sun was in his eyes so he borrowed my hat, apparently that's all he needed to make him happy!

We spent a lot more time riding the big rides this trip so we had to find ways to entertain the little monkey. She loved toontown where she could play in the little cars and houses while the big kids were busy.

This was the other way to keep her happy. A stuffed animal a day keeps the frownies away!

Haley sometimes has a hard time with the characters. This guy tried to carry her tray for her at breakfast. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Rafiki following behind Haley trying to tell her sorry for scaring her and trying to take her tray. Haley looking straight forward with huge tears silently streaming down her face walking as fast as she could back to the table. She sat down and cried on my shoulder once he was gone and said "I know he's nice but he just really freaks me out!" So when he came around again for pictures we sent her away for more strawberries. Dylan as you can see didn't have any problems with him.

Other than Donald, this is who Avery really wanted to meet! It was love at first sight!

I can't believe how big she is! She walked all 4 days with no complaints. She is ready and willing to ride every ride in the park! As much as it scares me that they grow up so fast sometimes it sure is fun to see them turn into a big kid right before your eyes!

We had such a GREAT time!!!!! I am sad to be home.

Do these type of things happen to other People?

I have this car. I really love my car, except for one small thing. It's cursed! I'm so not kidding. I've had my car for 3 years and it has been crashed 5 times in that amount of time. Not big huge crashed, (except for that hit and run thing on the freeway last year) Just little things. Like being backed into a telephone pole, a power box, Michael backing up in the drive way and smashing it. Oh, and the neighbors car too. Those types of things. Having said all of this my next little story shouldn't surprise any of you. (WARNING! this is a little bit disgusting)

I was heading into the auto body shop. They know me well by now! Dylan wasn't feeling good so he stayed home from pre-school. I gave him some motrin for a little fever but he refused to eat breakfast. Anyway.... I still had to bring the car in and they were going to bring me home. We were about 2 minutes away from the shop when I heard a horrible and dreaded sound from the back. Yep..... Dylan was losing his breakfast (or last thereof) all over the car that was about to be left in the shop for the week. Ahhhhhhh! Now what? Well, luckily he was in a bathrobe over his pj's with a blanket on top of that so I was able to bag up all the yuck, or most of it anyway. Well a week has now passed and they called to tell me that my car was ready. I asked if they had any kind of detail service I could add on to my car wash and they said yes. I was SOOOoooo all over that. My car has now been dropped off with no dents, dings, scratches or crashed bumpers. The detail service took care of the puky smelling inside (so.... so....so worth it by the way!) and I'm one happy girl again.

So how about it. Is anyone else's car cursed (hmm, maybe it's not the car, maybe it's me)? Do these things happen to you guys? I would love to know if I need to be looking for a new car or someone to de-cursify me!

DISNEY!

I L-O-V-E!!!! Disneyland. I mean really love it. The fact that my kids love it as much as me is just a bonus. My sweet hubby however does not. It took some doing this year but I finally got him to agree to come with us on our Disney trip. (notice I said come with us, I was almost prepared to got it alone. Did I mention I love Disneyland?) I made all the final arrangements today. We are all booked up. Wahooo!!!!!!!

This year we aren't doing the over-the-top craziness that we did last year. No Disney hotel etc. etc. This was a more than willing sacrifice I made so everyone was happy about the trip. We are also driving this year instead of flying. So how about it? Is the drive awful or just kind of long. I made the decision to stay in Vegas for a night on both the coming and going legs of the trip. With a 2 year old I am more than a little worried about a ten hour drive in the car. So if any of you have hints, tips or stories about how great your drive to Disney was..... please, by all mean share! If however, you had a horrible drive and your 2 year old screamed her head off the whole time then maybe don't share that info. : )

Tagged

So I was tagged by two of my three sisters. (Maybe they are sick of my lame not blogging mood) But here goes. So sister #1 tagged me for my favorite chick flick movies. That's a hard one, but I'm sure I can come up with a few of them.

Let's start with # 1 Mama Mia

This movie is totally corny and yet so so so much fun. Especially when you see it with a big group of giggling girls. Totally fun!

Movie #2 Sex and the City

I LOVED this show.... if you can skip some of the more embarrassing scenes (I know I am such a baby) This is such a great chick flick. I got hooked on the show from TBS "aka" edited version. So sometimes the HBO versions shocks me a bit. I was too involved in the story line to NOT find out how it all turns out.

Movie # 3 Ever After

I had a roommate that LOVED LOVED this movie. After having it play practically 24 hours a day I was so sick of this show, but now when ever it comes on TV I can't help myself I always turn it on for "just a minute" and end up watching it all.

So there you have it. A few of my favorite chick flicks.... up next, a tag about the hubby.

Enjoying Life's little wonders

I've not been in the blogging mood lately. (Gasp!) I know perish the thought. But I just haven't been feeling it. Once we all got feeling a little better we've just kind of been hanging out. Let's face it girls (and guys) sometimes life just isn't that interesting. Laundry... dishes.... homework...groceries not exactly newsworthy stuff.

Normally this would drive me CRAZY!!!! but.... I've actually been enjoying myself. One of my resolutions this year was to slow down and enjoy all of the little things. This is something that is hard for me. I constantly feel the need to be doing "something." Instead these days we've been playing and enjoying ourselves. On today's agenda. Trains.....Legos, and more trains. Here's a sample of me and my favorite little guy hanging out.

He even used the push train (the other one is motorized and has a controller to hold) I usually have to be the push train the whole dang time... today he took pitty on me.

We set up the whole city with all the filling station and such. Then we started playing. Well if any of you have small children you'll know that gets old really quick. A few times around the tracks and we were needing something to spice it up.

That's were the boulders dropping on the train and pieces missing out of the track come into play.

Of course we had to have some of the passengers fall out and get ran over. He is such a boy sometimes!

(No lego guys or train pieces were harmed in the making of this activity... at least not fatally )