A Glimpse of Our Lives through my Eyes

My 200 Haves and Have Nots

2008-06-30T19:04:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another blog and after Googling it, found that it originated here.

It's a list of 200 things. You are supposed to indicate if you've done them in your lifetime or not. My answers are in BLUE

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped'
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland (town)
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all four
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway (or equivalent to your country) play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in a historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter

That's it! I've done more than I thought!

Our Father's Day Picture

2008-06-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

The kids and I took this picture as a Father's day gift for Keith. He has asked me for a picture for his desk. So that's what he got! lol We actually got some fairly decent pictures of us. The kids are at an age when picture taking isn't too stressful.

Kevin Square Dancing

2008-06-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

Kevin and the entire second grade had a square dancing and western songs performance yesterday. Here's Kevin doing his part...

He starts off with his back to you. He is wearing his hat backwards (the star is behind him).

Yes this video is just under four minutes long... Enjoy!

Here They Are

2008-06-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

So wow! I have really been neglecting this blog. Imagine my shock when I finally realized that my last "real" post was on Valentine's day! So much has gone on. Birthdays amongst them! Here is a "recent" picture of each one of them. I will work on getting some photo albums (online of course) put together and some commentary to got with it. Keith got me a camera for my birthday. It is a cute little thing about the size of my phone. I've been taking a lot of pictures lately.

Let's see if I can't update you with more recent happenings. All the kids got Strep Throat, so that took us out for about a month. Michaela missed a whole week of school and the boys missed about half a week. Kevin ended up getting an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, so he was out of commission for a few more days. We had been back and forth to the doctor so many times, that by the time McKenna got it (she was the last to get it), the doctor didn't even want to see her. The doctor just called in the prescription sight unseen. We've spent a fortune on doctor co-pays and medications. I'm just glad they're all healthy now.

School is over next week. Summer vacation is just over two months long and they all go back mid-August. I am very excited! Just today we found out that our school is going to switch to full-time Kindergarten. I*CAN'T*WAIT! McKenna will be in preschool. I'll have three days of no kids. I have been toying with the idea of going back to school, getting a part-time job, or really putting in some serious time into my Stampin' Up! Business. What's a girl to do??? The part-time job would be nice financially, but I want to be able to still volunteer in the kids' classrooms. Maybe concentrating on Stampin' Up! is what I need instead of a part-time job. The money's there. I just need to work at it.

Well, it's late. I'll try to work on the albums in the next day or two. Until then!

Kevin

2008-06-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Here is a shot of Kevin that I really like. I took this one of him at the park while we were watching for Michaela to finish up her tap class.

Michaela

2008-06-03T22:34:00.001-07:00

This is Michaela at the end of April. She had just come back from her tap class.

Kyle

2008-06-03T22:31:00.001-07:00

Here's Kyle at the end of April. He's become so grown up it seems!

McKenna

2008-06-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of McKenna from the beginning of May. She's wearing her fleece jacket because it was actually clod back then!

Barbie Bandaids

2008-02-29T20:30:00.000-08:00

So with the kids' birthday's coming up, I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. I heard this song today for the first time and thought it was a wonderful song. Check it out when you have a chance and you'll understand what I'm talking about. Get a tissue ready.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day 2008!

Here is the kids' annual Valentine picture! I was supposed to make Valentine's cards and send them out this year. These were to be in lieu of the New Year's Cards that were to be in lieu of the Christmas Cards. Oh well, I still have St. Patrick's Day and Easter...

Anyway, we are going to have our Valentine's dinner tonight. This year to go along with our tradition of Valentine's dinner, we are starting something new. Karensa and Paul sent us cake mix, frosting, cake decor and a heart shaped cake pan. She said that Grandma Fischer used to make a heart shaped cake for her kids every year. Karensa thought it would be a fun tradition to carry on. So, in honor of Grandma Fischer and Karensa, we are having a heart shaped cake for dessert!

We are having some weird weather. The weekend was glorious at temps in the 80s. Here it is Thursday and it is gloomy, cold, rainy and in the 50s. It is a cold cold SoCal day!

Well, I think I am off for now. Off to bake a cake!

I Know It's Been Awhile!

2008-02-05T21:11:00.001-08:00

So yes, it's been a long time. I've been very busy. Just life. Running around with the kids. Karen, my mother-in-law, was with us for two nice weeks. I just have been busy busy. I've been busy with lots of Stamping related stuff. I went to the Stampin Up Regionals that was held in Anaheim and next weekend I am headed back to Anaheim for the Craft & Hobby Association Show. This is a huge show were all things crafty are shown. A lot of craft companies debut their new product lines here. It's huge! Anyway. Here are some pictures to tide you over a bit. One of the girls. And one of me. I cut about 12" from my hair. This is what I'm looking like these days...

Check out this cool contest!

2008-01-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

A Cowboy’s Wife is having a contest on her food blog! You can win a Hamilton Beach® Stand Mixer and she’ll ship anywhere so everyone is eligible!

The Prize:

The winner will receive a brand new
Hamilton Beach 4.5-qt. Eclectrics Stand Mixer, Pineapple Yellow!!

About the mixer:

From Hamilton Beach’s “Eclectrics” line, this all-metal stand mixer comes with a host of accessories - a Flat Beater for cakes and cookies, a Dough Hook for bread and a Wire Whisk for whipped cream or pudding. The 4.5-qt. stainless steel bowl comes with a Pouring Shield that helps prevent splattering while in operation. The pouring shield has a built-in chute for adding ingredients. Powered by 400 watts, the stand mixer has a two-way mixing action to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mix. The quick-release, tilt-up head assists when removing the bowl. 9 x 14 x 14-in. When you’re ready for a kitchen re-do, don’t call in the carpenters! Instead, “counterscape” your kitchen with Hamilton Beach’s retro-designed, affordably priced electrics in happy, sun-saturated colors. Their “Eclectrics” line includes updates to those classic appliances from the 1950s. All of their “Eclectrics” are available in six colors: Apple Green, Moroccan Red, Pineapple Yellow, Intrigue Blue, Sugar White and Licorice Black.

Happy Blog Birthday!

2007-12-30T18:04:00.000-08:00

Our blog is officially three years old! I started this blog December 30, 2004. I didn't get my Christmas cards out in time that year, so I started the blog to have a way to show family members the Christmas picture I took.

In 2004, Kevin was 4 years 8 months, Michaela was 2 years 9 months (McKenna's age now) and Kyle was 14 months. I was pregnant with McKenna. We were in Lake Forest and none of the kids were in school! The time has flown by.

I went back and read some of my older posts and it was really fun to read. This blogging thing is a great way to record memories!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-27T01:36:00.001-08:00

Our Family
Christmas 2007

Here is this year's family picture. This is all of us before heading to the Children's Mass on Christmas Eve. It was the first time in several years that we didn't attend Midnight Mass all together. We decided (Maria, Keith and I) that the kids would probably enjoy the Children's Mass instead.

We, of course, spent Christmas at Mom and Dad's. They had their annual Christmas party that was filled with the usual family and friends. The kids, 13 in all (under age 8), had fun running around and playing together. The kids only get together like this once or twice a year, but each year they pick up were they left off.

My sister, Maria, and her kids came on Saturday evening. On Sunday, we spent the day at the Wild Animal Park. We had fun walking round seeing all the animals and when it got dark, we got to enjoy the Festival of Lights the Park puts on every year.

Monday was pictures, Mass and then we took a walk around Christmas Card Lane. Christmas Card Lane is a local neighborhood in which almost everyone in the entire neighborhood has some kind of Christmas display. It is very lively every night with hundreds of visitors. We are lucky to live so close to something so fun! As we walked all the kids saw a class mate or two. Even I saw some moms from school.

Well, I know that was a brief synopsis, but I'll try to post more pictures soon.

Michaela and Cupcakes

2007-12-19T23:43:00.001-08:00

So Michaela thinks that it is funny to get frosting all over her face when she eats a cupcake. No fail, the frosting ends up all over her mouth and nose. She dives right in, and it goes every where. It's kinda gross if you ask me, but she likes it. She also manages not to get it all over her clothes. That's a good thing! This picture was taken of her last week as her friend celebrated her birthday with the class.

O Holy Night

2007-12-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

Christmas is less than a week away. To slow us all down and to remember the meaning of Christmas, take a moment to listen to Celine Dion's live version of O Holy Night. This is my favorite Christmas song, and I always tear up when I hear it. Merry Christmas!

Here the lyrics to help you reflect:

O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Til He appeared and the soul felt it's worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morne
Fall on your knees

O hear the angel voices
O night divine!
O night when Christ was born
O night divine!
O night, O night divine!

And in His Name, all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we
Let all within us praise his Holy name
Christ is the Lord!
Their name forever praise we

Noel, Noel
O night, O night Divine
Noel, Noel
O night, O night Divine
Noel, Noel
O night, O holy Divine

McKenna

2007-12-11T23:20:00.001-08:00

McKenna
taken on 12/10 by her Daddy

Kevin at Cub Scouts

2007-12-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

Kevin at Cub Scouts

Kevin had a pack meeting tonight. He earned a Gold Arrow Point and a Silver Arrow Point. He also earned two more belt loops - Geography and Collecting. He is really enjoying scouts and is working hard to achieve his Wolf rank, Arrow Points, belt loops and pins. He's doing a great job!

Christmas Cookie Cocoa Party

2007-12-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

We've had rain for a couple of days now and it has been gloomy. The sun is out today and it is very pretty out. But, we are all doing our best to keep warm. I myself am freezing. My hands and feet especially, even though I am wearing slippers. Yup, it is a COLD 60 degrees here in SoCal. Brrrrr!

So to warm us up, Keith made us all some hot cocoa. And so I decided that we would have some Christmas cookies to go with them. They are snowmen sugar cookies. Pillsbury. My cookie friend!

We had fun drinking cocoa and eating cookies. We had Christmas music playing. It was really fun! We don't have our Christmas decorations up yet. I've been too busy to dig them out of the garage. I am not really sure where everything is because of the move, so it's not going to be an easy task. Although I love decorating for Christmas, I am not looking forward to digging for the decor! One consolation of putting up the decorations late is that Karen (my mother-in-law) will be with us for a few weeks starting January 8. So, we will keep the decorations up until she comes.

Here are single shots of each of the kids

What's Your Grinch Name?

2007-12-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little link to try. I saw this on splitcoaststampers.

What's Your Grinch Name?

We're the Crankynoodles
Me: Grimfrown Crankynoodle
Keith: Miserlybeast Crankynoodle
Kevin: Miserlygrinch Crankynoodle
Michaela: Grimtroll Crankynoodle
Kyle: Wretchedgrump Crankynoodle
McKenna: Gloomywhiner Crankynoodle

I don't think Keith or the kids really match their Grinch name. Kyle does when he's woken up. The scary part is that I think *my* Grinch name fits!

Our Thanksgiving

2007-11-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

**I am trying to upload pictures to an album, but it isn't quite working! I'll post the link when I can get it to work!**

So, there are all the kids the day before Thanksgiving. Maria and her kids came down for the holiday and we all had a lot of fun together.

They showed up on Tuesday evening and the next morning we met my parents and other sister at Panera Bread - my new favorite place! Then we went shopping!

We spent the rest of the day just hanging around the house. Well, Maria watched all the kids while I went out to lunch with my BFF Julie.

Thanksgiving was spent at Mom and Dad's house. It was really nice. We had turkey, steaks, broccoli (Kaela's fav), squash, mashed potatoes, French fry yams. For dessert we had Tom Selleck cake - a holiday tradition!

The day after Thanksgiving we actually went shopping. Maria, mom and I went. We went to one store and to a bead store. It was fun. We didn't really buy anything, but it was fun.

I'll have more details in the description of the pictures. I hope I can get it to work!

I did it!!! Here is the link to the album: Thanksgiving 2007

My domain mapping isn't working correctly, so I am not too happy about that. Just ignore that last comment if you don't know what domain mapping is. lol

Tanks

2007-11-30T22:08:00.000-08:00

So Maria, my sister, finally got around to telling me about this Filipina-American, Christine aka Happy Slip, who has some *hilarious* videos on YouTube. She pokes fun at the Philippine culture. She currently has 38 videos posted, and I about peed my pants from laughing so hard. This video is about a typical Thanksgiving with her family. By the way, she is #5 Most Subscribed to YouTuber of all time. Pinay Power!

Rain Rain Rain

2007-11-30T22:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, It's raining. We haven't had rain like this in forever. It has rained non-stop all day. Seriously. Non-stop. ALL day. It is 10:05PM and it is still raining. Since I woke up at 7:00AM. *Still* raining.

Can you tell I'm not used to rain?

Here's Our Kyle!

2007-11-18T00:15:00.000-08:00

Kyle, Age 4

I really like this picture of Kyle. His little smirky smile. He always gives me this smile. It shows up when he is about to do something silly. Or when we thinks something is funny, but doesn't want to laugh out loud about it. He flashes it at me when we both notice something that no one else notices. Oh my sweet Kyle. I love him so much!

Gotta Love SoCal!

2007-11-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

It's mid November and the temps around here have run in the mid-80s most of the week. Some parts of the county have even hit 90. It has cooled down on the weekend, but still warm and sunny. Gotta love it!

Kyle is Four!

2007-11-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

To view Kyle's Birthday photo album, click here

So my baby boy has turned four on October 17th! I can't believe he is only four. He seems so much more sophisticated than that to both Keith and me. He had a birthday dinner and cake and ice cream.

He wasn't too picky about dinner and said that Pat & Oscar's was fine. It made it easy for me because now that we have moved back to our old neighborhood, there was more family to invite. His Godmother lives here, so we couldn't *not* invite them. And her parents live here, so we couldn't *not* invite them either. Not that we didn't want to *not* invite them, but it was a bit bigger than we are used to for our birthday dinners.

Kyle had a good birthday. He brought cookies to share with his classmates and was happy to celebrate with them at school. He got to wear a birthday crown and the kids got to ask Kyle questions about his "favorite" things. According to his teachers, he had big smiles all day long.

Take a peek at Kyle's birthday photo album. The link is above.

Southern CA Wildfires

2007-11-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

That weekend there were several fires throughout Southern California. The fires caused the largest evacuation in California history. Over one MILLION people were evacuated. 1,000,000! Some fires were started by accident, but sadly enough some were started on purpose. The fire that directly effected us was the Witch Fire. It burned 197,990 acres and destroyed 1,040 homes, 414 outbuildings, and 239 vehicles. It damaged 70 homes and 25 outbuildings. It caused 2 deaths and 39 injuries to firefighters and 2 to civilians. This is the damage from just the Witch fire. Here is a Wikipedia page that has some very through info on all the Southern California fires: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2007_California_wildfires

It all started on Sunday the 21st of October. The day had started out like any other. We slept in, the kids had breakfast. They ran around the house. The played in the backyard. Then at almost exactly at 2pm smoke rolled in and the sky turned orange. We were surrounded by smoke. The kids came inside and we shut all the windows. It was hot that weekend, in the 80s and it was windy, our infamous Santa Ana winds. We found out later that the fire was in Ramona, located about 30 miles northeast of here.

By that evening the wind was howling and reached speeds of 30-40 mph. I don't remember the winds being this strong and steady since I was a girl. The house was whistling with the winds and woke Michaela. She was scared and ended up sleeping in her room. By the time I went to bed that night just before 1 am, the fire had caused the evacuation of Ramona and there was threat of fire in the northern part of Poway. I went to bed knowing that school was canceled due to the poor air quality. Never in a million years would I have thought to prepare to evacuate. Those kind of thing never happen to us personally. It's only something you see on TV.

Although Keith had to go to work on Monday morning, he kept turning the alarm off. We finally got out of bed because my Dad called us at 7am. I was a bit annoyed because I *already* knew that school was canceled. So, I answered and boy did I get the shock of my life. "We are evacuating. Turn on the TV!" he says. The last time he called me saying to turn on the TV, the Twin Towers were on fire.

I whacked Keith and told him we had to evacuate. My parents live within walking distance of us, so if they were leaving, I guess we should too. We turned on the TV and I was shocked to see that the fire had reached the community just 2-3 miles away as the crow flies. I watched in disbelief as houses in Rancho Bernardo were burning down.

I quickly realized that we had to go. The news was saying that our area was on mandatory evacuation. Our community has almost 60,000 people in it and only five ways out. I remembered that our Expedition had no gas in it and I told Keith to leave to get gas while I packed us up. Keith wasn't gone long. He came back after seeing the lines at the gas station were a mile long. We decided to head to Mom and Dad's to try to syphon gas from Dad's Expedition to ours. We decided to leave Keith's truck behind, mainly because he didn't have gas either, but also because I didn't want to be separated form Keith.

We packed each kid a backpack. They had a weeks worth of clothes. They also brought three of their most favorite toys. We brought their blankets and pillows too. Keith and I each had a backpack. We grabbed the computers and the external drives with all our pictures on them. I grabbed our important documents. That was it. We didn't grab anything else. By the time we left, the roads were booked solid. Mom and Dad's were in the opposite direction, so we had no trouble getting there.

Mom and Dad were packing up all three of their cars and had Tasha in the cat carrier and the four dogs on leases. We tried to syphon the gas, but just could not get it to work. So, we left without them and tried to get gas. We didn't get far. Not more than 10 minutes on the road and our low fuel warning light was on. We bought a gallon of gas from a landscaper that was in the lane next to us. He had a little bit in his tank for his lawnmower.

Mom and Dad and my sister managed to get to another road and phoned us that it was free and clear there. The gas stations were open and had no lines. The Interstate was closed earlier and not many people headed that direction. Good thing my parents did. That's what saved us having to push our car. Imagine the move "Deep Impact" when the asteroid is going to hit and there is a mass exodus to leave. Streets packed, not moving. Cars loaded to the brim with possessions. That's what is looked like. It was not a good feeling.

Anyway, we did manage to get gas and although my parents headed to Qualcomm stadium with the rest of San Diego, we headed north to Oceanside to stay with Keith's boss. We never made it there. It seems everyone was headed north. We turned around and started to head south. On our way, my parents called and said they decided to leave Qualcomm and head to the beach. The air quality was much nicer there and that area was largely unaffected by the fires. We ended up meeting them there and spent the day in Mission Beach.

We had blue skies most of the day and the smoke stayed away from where we were. Throughout the day, RVs and other car loads of people showed up. After chatting with some of them we found that a lot of them were from our area. Here's a picture of us at the beach. It is a candid shot.

That evening we traveled further south and stayed at my Uncle's house. As you can imagine, we were glued to the TV with news. One of the biggest worries of this fire was that it would come over the mountain, the one that my parent's house is on, and come right down on our community. That's about 10,000+ homes right in the fire's way. There were numerous websites up and the county had an official site that gave news on the latest or evacuations and where the fires were.

We ended up staying at my Uncle's until Wednesday. We got back home Wednesday evening. School was canceled the rest of the week due to the cleanup of the schools and the poor air quality. Keith workplace was also shut down because of the fires. Most of Northern San Diego County was shut down for the week.

Although the fires are all contained, it continues to effect a lot of people. Please pray for all those who lost their homes, their livelihoods and their lives.

Halloween

2007-11-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

To view our Halloween photo album, click here

Halloween was fun this year. But when is it not fun? The kids had been anticipating Halloween for weeks. I guess that's a bit of my fault because I was excited for Halloween to come! I love decorating for Halloween and I think it is a fun time. It is kind of the start of the Holiday season and I always look forward to this time of year.

We decorated early in October and the kids all had their costumes picked out shortly thereafter.

Here they are before school. Kyle was Captain Jack Sparrow. McKenna was a black cat. Michaela was an Angel. Kevin was a SWAT officer. Kevin and Michaela had a Halloween parade at school and I dressed Kyle and McKenna in theirs too. The parade was really fun to see. The whole school joined in on the parade. I'd say about only a handful of kids were not in costume. The rest of the almost 800 kids were. It was neat to see all the different costumes. Some of them were pretty clever. I wish I could post them, but I hesitate to post other people's kids online.

After the parade, the two little ones got dropped off at Grandma and Grandpa's. I went back to the school and help out with a party that Kevin's class had. Michaela's class also had a party, but hey were already covered for volunteers. Both kids fun at their parties. Kyle's preschool had their party the next day, so he got to enjoy it with his friends too.

That night, Keith took the kids trick or treating through the neighborhood. I stayed home and passed out candy.

When they came home, they had a few pieces of candy. They had glow sticks with them and we turned out all the lights and the kids played with them, drawing designs in the air. I snapped some pictures with the shutter forced open. I got some really neat shots.

Shortly after that, we sent the kids to bed and Keith and I watched TV. All in all, it was a fun day.

Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park

2007-11-10T11:42:00.000-08:00

To view to our Sequoia Photo Album, click here

The kids were off from school because of parent teacher conferences. So, we decided to make a long weekend of it and travel north to King Canyon/Sequoia National Park. We rent a "Rustic Cabin" through the National Park system. It was a cute one room cabin built in the 1920s. It was very cozy. We spent two night there.

The National park is huge and we needed several days to see it all. We will probably go back in the near future; there was so much to see.

We started out going to Grant's Grove, where the General Grant tree is. It was a short hike around and there were place markers along the way. It was interesting to read about the different trees and about what made for good habitat for Sequoia growth.

We went the first weekend in November and it was considered the off season. There were hardly any people there - which we liked. It wasn't as cold as it historically was. We were able to manage with just our fleece pullovers. I read in the guidebooks that the area is quite crowded in the summertime and to avoid it if at all possible.

We explored the northern part of the park up to almost what is quite literally the "End of the Road". The road stopped at a certain point and to go any further, you had to back pack in. Near the end was Boyden Cavern. Since it was the off season we ended up practically have a private tour. It was our family, an older couple and two twenty-something hikers. It was really interesting to learn how the caves formed and to see all the different formations. The kids enjoyed it and were pretty good on the 45 minute tour.

We also explored the Giant Forest and the learning centers. Seeing the big trees was truly amazing and to know that these tress have been about for at least a thousand years is mind blowing to me.

It was nice being out in the peace and quite of the forest. I'm sure this isn't our last trip there.

November Already!

2007-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

So, where does the time go? October came and went and now we are 7 days into November. I think an update is in order! Let's see, what are some of the things that have been going on? I'll list them here and then create new posts per topic. Then I'll bump this one back to the top. TMI, I know.

Let's see, here are the BIG topics...

Kyle's Birthday
Craft Fairs
California Fires
Halloween
Sequoia National Park

And the Winner Is....

2007-09-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

Deborah! She wins the retired "Basket Full of Fun" set.

Thank you to all who played and scoured my blogs. Thanks for all the lovely comments! I had a lot of fun with the blog candy. Keep reading, I may do this again sometime (or two or three!).

The correct post I had you all search for was dated October 21, 2006. There were 26 comments made. I used a random number generator and up popped 11. So counting down 11 comments, we get...

Deborah said...: WOWZER! You are doing great! Congrats on 10,000 big ones! Deb; 8:30 PM

Deborah - I followed the link to your blog. I used the email address listed. Please contact me for your blog candy.

Almost up to 10,000 - blog candy alert!

2007-09-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

So this little family blog that I started the second to the last day of 2004 has grown to almost 10,000 hits. The first year around this time we were just at about 2,000. Then the second year around this time we were at just about 6,000. And now, well, you've seen the title!

I do know that we do get a few random hits from people googling certain words, and we just pop up. About a fourth of the hits are close friends and family. The majority of the hits are stampers brought here from splitcoastbloggers.blogspot.com. This a HUGE listing of blogging stampers that read and post at splitcoaststampers.com. I know a lot of them are expecting to see a stampin' blog, so that's why I added the link to my stampin' blog up above. (Check that one out too! It's been averaging about 1,000 hits per month.)

So if you ARE a stamper, here is your chance for some blog candy. Here's the deal. Find the post on this blog where I originally posted about this blog reaching 6,000 hits. Post a comment in *that* thread. I will randomly choose one poster to receive last Stampin' Up! catalog's retired Level 3 hostess set "Basket Full of Fun". (Sorry there is no picture, you can find samples in the gallery on splitcoast or in last year's catalog.)

Here's a bonus. Go over to my stampin' blog (see link above). If you post a comment over there AND are the winner over here, I will throw in a few extra goodies with your stamp set. Happy posting!

Kyle Goes to School!

2007-09-25T00:04:00.001-07:00

So my baby boy is officially a preschooler!

One of the things that I was bummed about when we found out that we were moving was that Kyle was going to lose his spot in the school district run Preschool. This preschool was very affordable compared to what private preschools charged. Around here at our new place, people put their kids on preschool waiting lists before the kids turn one year old, so the chances of Kyle getting into an affordable preschool was not looking good.

So when we get here, I start calling around. I can find space at Preschools, but I am getting ridiculous quotes most of them were anywhere from $106-119 per week for part time two days a week. Eight hours total per week. That comes out to be roughly $13-15 per hour. Well, I thought that was just a bit too pricey for us. I had resigned to the fact that Kyle was just not going to be going to preschool and next year would have to go right into Kindergarten without any kind of social prep. Of all my kids, Kyle is the most clingy to me and the slowest to warm up. He is constantly attached to me in social settings, such as picking up Kevin and Kaela from school or at family parties where there are lots of unfamiliar Aunties, Uncles and cousins. Not to mention all the Lolos and Lolas.

Anyway, I see an ad for a preschool that is run by the Parks and Recreation department. It isn't an academic program but rather a social program. Perfect! This is exactly what Kyle needs. So of course when I call the first week of September to inquire, there is no space available, but if we wanted to be on the waiting list, we could come by and have a tour. So, I tell Kyle that we are going to look at a school that he might be going to. He is very excited so I have to explain to him that there isn't a space for him and that we were only going to look. Kyle says, "Maybe we can ask a kid to move over so I can have a spot to sit." Too cute. I had to explain to him that I didn't mean that kind of spot.

SoO, we get to the school, and he is all excited. But, as soon as the door opens for us to go inside, he immediately super glues himself to me and won't let go. I try to encourage him to play with stuff while I talk to the teacher, but he just isn't having it. He wont talk to the teacher or to any other kids. He doesn't utter one word the whole time we are there. So, now I am totally worried that he won't do well at parting at school and if he did get a spot, he would be crying every morning.

So, the teacher is nice, the school is nice and on we go to the waiting list. I'm thinking that he'll never get in. BUT, not two weeks later, the new session is starting and they have an opening or two. So, we go back to fill out the paperwork and to pay the tuition, VERY affordable at what works out to be $5.50 an hour. Kyle still does not want to talk to anyone and is definitely not straying from my side. The teacher explains to me that when Kyle starts it'll be fine. There will be tears, but they are experts at handling it. Some kids cry for a week every morning, others cry everyday for the whole year. I thought, "Great. That'll be Kyle."

So, Kyle starts that following Monday, the 17th. One of the forms I fill out is a list of Kyle's favorites and one of the things that was asked was his favorite color. I wrote down blue. So, the teacher reads the list and knows from the times she's met Kyle that he would have to be coaxed into letting go of my hand. Let me back track here a bit... the weekend before he started school, we went to pick out a lunch box and a water bottle. I had run through different situations with Kyle on what to do at school. What if you have to go to the bathroom? Tell the teacher. What if a kid is being mean? Tell the teacher. So, he knows he is going to school Monday and is very excited about and he is talking all about how he is going to be in Preschool. Totally looking forward to it.

We get to school and yes, he is attached. And no, he won't say a word. So back to the list. The teacher reads that his favorite color is Blue and totally gets him with that. "Kyle, we need to get you a cubby (a container where they keep their stuff). What's your favorite color?" Silence. "Is it blue?" she asks. Kyle gets a big smile on his face and nods. She takes his hand and leads him away. He waves at me. Whew, he's going to do fine. But, McKenna is now following them. "Kenna come here. We are going home. Only Kyle is going to school." So, McKenna crumples to the floor and cries. The teachers thought it was cute. She was upset because she didn't want to leave her brother. Um no, not cute. Baby crying!

So, one last thing about this list. They had asked if there was anything in particular to know about Kyle. Well, they wouldn't have guessed this because Kyle appears at first glance to be extremely shy. When he is comfortable, he is LOUD. He is my loudest child. When I went to pick him up from this first day, I could hear him through the door. When I saw his teacher, I say, "I see he warmed up." "Um, yeah he did!" she says with a disbelieving look on her face. He is now in his second week. He loves it. The teachers never would've guessed he was the same kid they met before school started.

Keith

2007-09-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Keith doesn't like to get his picture taken, but he does indulge me every once and a while. He'll even crack a smile! He probably won't be too happy about me posting this picture, but I really like this picture. I took this while we were at the Zoo with Dad and Mary...

A Bit of Silliness

2007-09-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

So, it was HOT here a few days ago. VERY hot. It was in the high 90s for several days and the nights were even in the mid 80s. This is not fun weather for us spoiled SoCal people!

Well, since it was so hot, we didn't really go out. We all just tried to stay cool here at home. Our new house doesn't have AC and there wasn't much of a breeze. I ended up buying two more fans. We have 5 free standing floor fans. They really did help.

Anyway, this is what we did one day when it was HOT. I took out my camera and was just fooling around taking pictures of the kids and me and Keith. So, since we were all kind of in the picture taking mood (everyone except Kevin), I wanted to do a family picture. This is what we got...

Falling into a Routine

2007-09-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

So school has been in session for just under three weeks, but it seems to me that three months have gone by. Our schedules are jam packed and the kids aren't in any activities yet other than school.

I keep my calendar in Outlook. It is a very neat program because you can assign a color to each person and then keep it all on the same calendar. When you look at the month view you can see who has what going on just with a glance. It works really well for us. Anyway, my calendar is blocked solid for the next few weeks. Kevin is starting up scouts this week. Michaela has gone on a play date already and has a birthday party coming up. Not to mention all the swaps that I have to finish off and mail.

I need a vacation!

So my last post talked about the traffic around the school. Well, last week we tried walking in the morning. It worked out pretty well. It has been Africa hot (as my friend Julie says) for about a week, but it has cooled down considerably. So, walking in the morning is quite nice. It takes about 15 minutes to get there are a nice pace and 20 minutes at a leisurely pace. McKenna is in the umbrella stroller and Kyle walks like the big kids. Kyle does pretty good!

Michaela started with home work two weeks ago, but Kevin brought homework home for the first time just today. The school Open House was last Thursday night. Keith went to Kaela's class and I went to Kevin's. I was pleasantly surprised that Kevin has less homework here than he did at his other school. Kevin was happy about it too.

At Open House, there was a call for Room Moms/Dads. Since I was a Room Mom for Kevin last year, I decided to do it for Michaela's class this year. Well, seven other Moms had the same idea. For Kevin's class there was only one volunteer, so I decided to step away from Michaela's class and help out with Kevin's.

We will see how busy all the school stuff keeps me! I'll keep you posted.

Summer Vacation Ends, School Begins!

2007-08-23T00:36:00.001-07:00

So since most retail stores consider it the end of summer and the beginning of fall, all the summer stuff is going on clearance. Well, lucky us for living in SoCal. We are going to have summery weather through October. We got this pool (nice sized at 12' X 30" - perfect for us) at a great price and we couldn't pass it up. So, up it went on the weekend and the kids have been playing in it every day since. I even ventured into it yesterday!

I thought it would be fitting to post a picture of them in their swim wear. Since it is an end of summer vacation post. This was them just before we all hopped in yesterday. I don't know how they can stand the water. I was freezing!

So along with the pool, they each got kickboards on sale. Kevin had his from last year, so really only the three youngers got them. Kaela is continuing to swim well. She taught herself last summer and can now swim underwater the length of our tiny pool. Kyle still refuses to get his face wet. He even dislikes baths and showers! lol Kenny is right in there, thinking she's swimming, but really all she is doing is bending over with the kickboard in front of her as she walks along the bottom. Kevin of course is all over the place in the water. He has always loved the water. He was less than 24 months old when he started submerging and kicking to propel through the water. Well, even though school started today, the pool is still up and they went in as soon as Kevin came home from school.

So here's some first day of school pictures...

Here is Kevin at home before we left. His clothes are to big, but his normal size is getting a hair small. I didn't want to have to buy him new clothes again in a few months, so I just went with the bigger size. He's so grown up!

So the one thing I worried about with Kevin and a new school was that he would have a hard time breaking into groups of kids that have already formed friendships from previous years. We are lucky in that Joshua, the son of my good girlfriend from high school, is in Kevin's class. Even though Joshua and Kevin haven't grown up seeing each other all the time, we have throughout the years had chances to see them at family parties. So, I told Kevin that Joshua would probably hang out with him, but in the off chance that Joshua didn't (because he was already familiar with his other friends), he could find other little kids to play with. All he had to do was ask.

So, as soon as I picked him up, Joshua and Kevin were near each other but weren't really acknowledging each other. So, of course, I asked Kevin if he played with Joshua today. "No, not really," Kevin says. So then I ask him who he played with, "No one." Kevin says. Hmmm. Not making for a good first day of school. I think to myself. So then, since Kevin really doesn't offer up any info without my prompting, I ask more questions. Who did you have lunch with? - Joshua. Did you play with Joshua at recess? - No. So, you had lunch with Joshua, but afterwards he just went and played with other kids? Kevin doesn't respond. Okay, so now I am feeling really bad for Kevin. How come you didn't play with anyone? - It was too hot. I sat in the shade. What did you do in the shade? - We talked. Who did you talk to? - Joshua. You were with Joshua? - Yeah. I thought you said you didn't play with Joshua? - I didn't. We sat in the shade and talked. We did Rock, Paper, Scissors and talked about what we did this summer. We did Rock Paper Scissors with Nicolas and some other boys too.

Point of story. So no, Kevin did not play with Joshua. They talked. They talked with a few other boys too. Kevin was not lonely and left out like he made it seem. I just didn't ask the right questions. *sigh*

So here's my Kaela. This picture is deceiving. She looks happy as she waves good bye on her way to her class. Her first day of Kindergarten. But here's what happened before this picture.

In the car Michaela says she is nervous about going to school. I reassure that everything is going to be just fine. So we get to school and as we all pour out of the car, she latches onto my hand. Ouch, she has a strong grip. The whole time we are walking, I am trying to walk with McKenna and Kyle holding my other hand. No one wants to let go, except McKenna, who is the one kid whose hand I want to hold! So we get to the inside of the school, and she is squeezing my hand harder. Didn't know she had it in her. She is also now somehow superglued to the side of my leg. So now we are where she is supposed to line up. Glued to my leg and my hand in a vise, I have carry/drag her to the end of the line. Her teacher suspects that Michaela might be having issues so she helps us to the end of the line, talking to Michaela and letting her know how much fun they will have. I give Michaela a big hug and a kiss. Then another hug and another. I am trying to slip away as the line in front of her starts to move. Finally she lets go, gives me a big smile and turns to follow the line. I snapped this picture as she turned back to say one last goodbye. Ah huh. She will go when *she* wants to.

So the kids both said they had fun their first day. Kevin already has a new best friend and Michaela was pleased that the songs she sang in class were ones she already knew from preschool. The traffic around their school is horrendous. There is a middle school right next door. So picture about 1600 kids getting released from school within a half hour of each other. About a third of them walk, bus or bike. The rest get picked up. The traffic around there lasts a good solid 45 minutes. We'll have to get used to that.

Well, off to bed. Good night!

School Starts in 3 Days!

2007-08-19T23:30:00.001-07:00

Here's a pic of the kids after dinner today. I had wanted to get a picture of the boys to show off their new haircuts, but then of course the girls wanted to be in the picture. Well, to get these four to pose for a picture is not the easiest of tasks. I do all I can not to lose my cool. I envision this cute picture, but of course there is always someone making a funny face (usually Kevin), or someone trying too hard to smile (Kyle) or someone who acts like they just don't know what the heck I am talking about (McKenna). Michaela is usually the only one who knows what to do.

Anyway, my two oldest are off to school on Wednesday. It's really been a fun summer for them. I think Kyle is going to take the big kids gone especially hard because he does almost everything with Michaela. When Michaela doesn't want to play with him or just needs some alone time, Kyle gets very upset. McKenna is still at that stage when she doesn't always play with the other kids. Hopefully he falls into a routine to entertain himself when his big sister isn't around.

Packing is still going slow. We've been here just over four weeks now. Most of the boxes are still not unpacked. Oh well. Someday! I plan on working on my craft room today. Maybe I'll be able to get it done. On that note, I am headed to bed! Good night!

Still Slow Going

2007-08-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been here for three weeks now. It doesn't really seem like it's been three weeks. We have been busy here. We got all new screens on all the windows that needed them (probably about 3/4 of ll the windows), then the windows were fixed (they didn't lock or slide well), then we got new sliding screens for our two sets of sliding glass doors to the patio, then we had three different plumbers come in and look at what needed to be done. The bathtub in the kids side of the house was sagging. As it turns out the floor was totally disintegrated and was perched precariously on a support beam of the house. Then there were problems with the sprinklers. Oh man, this poor house has seen better days. The dishwasher is only 5 years old and is caked with calcium deposits. I tried scrapping some of it off, but it didn't help. I think there is calcium buildup in the pipe. Oh well, there are a few other little things, but I guess I'll stop complaining. It really is a nice house. It just needed some TLC. We are definitely giving it that.

We aren't anywhere near being unpacked. I still can't fin half my kitchen stuff! Oh well, as long as it is done by the time school starts. School starts in two weeks!

So, I got a new phone. A Samsung Sync. I am having fun playing with it. It has a 2.0 MP camera and can play MP3s and videos. I took some pictures of the kids last week. The camera has built in frames that you can add to the picture. Here's what we did the other day...

All Moved In - sort of!

2007-07-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I am happy to say that we have moved into our new house. Our stuff is there and the kids finally got to see their new house. They are excited about the back yard and all the space they have to run around in. They can now move freely around the house and make as much noise as they want. No more worrying about the downstairs neighbor because there isn't one! lol

The kids were wondering why, if it was a 5 bedroom house, did they not each get their own room? Well, one room is being used as an office for Keith and one is a guest room. The boys in one room and the girls in another. They are young enough to be sharing rooms still. Our master bedroom is the rear part of the second story and the kids' rooms are way on the opposite side of the house over the garage.

Where is my craft room you ask? Well, when you walk in the door, there it is. I am taking up the entire huge living room! The TV/family room is fairly large and in the rear of the house with the kitchen next to it. I get the living room which is next to the formal dining room. I had wanted that area also for stamp classes, but Keith nixed that idea. My new craft area is big enough he says.

Okay, so in reference to the title - the "sort of" part. Well, let's just say that we are renting a UHaul for tomorrow. We had so much stuff that the movers couldn't get all of our stuff into their truck! They took all the boxes and the furniture, but had to leave behind the bulky items like the kids' plastic drawers where they keep their toys, the bikes, some of the bigger toys, Kaela's dollhouse. Everything has been moved to the garage and once we get the UHaul, we'll fill it up and drive it to our new place. A pain in the butt, but apparently we have too much stuff for the average three bedroom home. I guess that's why we had to move up to five bedrooms!

Well, good night for now. I will update in a few days with my unpacking saga!

Moving in Soon!

2007-07-11T21:33:00.000-07:00

Keith started working on Monday. We are staying at my Mom and Dad's house until we can move into our new place on Sunday. I have been driving back and forth from here to our old place everyday to pack. My parents and sister have been watching the kids and we are so thankful that they are so close and can help out. I was starting to worry yesterday about the progress I was making and took my dad up on his offer to help. He packed up the entire kitchen and saved me a whole day's work. Things aren't looking so bleak now! Well, I am off. I'll update more later when I have more to report!

We Have a New Place!

2007-07-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

I am SO happy to report that we now have a place to live. We are frantically packing and trying to get things squared away. We found a place not too far (walking distance) from my parents house. The kids will be going to the same school I went to when we (my parents, sisters and I) moved to the area some 30 years ago.

It is a 5 bedroom, 3 bath house with a nice big back yard (well, nice and big for Southern California). We are moving in on the 15th. There is so much to do! Yikes!

So, when things settle down a bit, I will try to update you! In the meantime, here is a picture of Kevin. Please excuse the blurry picture and the messy hair! lol Kevin finally lost his two front teeth. They came out two days apart.

The Search Continues

2007-06-25T02:51:00.000-07:00

Well, we are really busy. We are packing, and we are still looking for a place to live. We thought we had a place lined up, but it fell through. We ended up giving notice here as Keith starts his new job on the 9th. We have to find a place to live. Ack!

Michaela's Last Day of Preschool

2007-06-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

Today was Micaela's last day of Preschool. It was sad in that she was with a lot of these kids for two years and with the same teacher. Many of them would be going to different elementary schools, but with us moving now it's hard to know that Michaela won't be able to see her friends anymore.

The end of the year picnic was fun though. They had yummy food and all the kids played in the park.

Later, her teacher presented each kid a book of some of their school work form this year and a bag of goodies. I got some very cute pictures of Michaela with her friends. There were so many cute ones. I think I might make Michaela a scrapbook of all her friends. I did want to post this picture of her though.

This last picture is a picture of Michaela with her "boyfriend" Ryley. Most of the school year, they played together and hung out with each other. Whenever they stood in line, they held hands. I think this picture is adorable!

Good News!

2007-06-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

Just a few months ago, I was feeling really down that Keith and I just couldn't catch a break. It felt like these past four years or so there had been a lot of obstacles. Financial problems, a couple of car accidents, having to move (again and again), job worries, health issues (mine), etc. We did have some really nice times, but it seemed like when something was going good, something else would come along and complicate things.

Well, I am very thankful that things seem to be going very well for us right now. Some very wonderful things have been going on and the not so pleasant things are not around.

Anyway, Keith is going to be changing jobs. This will be his ideal job. His interview went very well, and the formal offer is being overnighted to him. We are moving back to San Diego. On top of all of that, Keith is getting a substantial pay increase. We found the perfect house for us in my parents' neighborhood. The house is within biking distance to Keith's new place of employment.

We are so excited! With this new house and me being in a more familiar area (to me), I am looking forward to stepping up both my Stampin' Up business and my Taste of Home Entertaining business. (I just had my Taste of Home Entertaining open house, and it went very well!) There is so much more I can gush about, but I think I should head to bed for now. Good night!

The Stars of the Show

2007-06-13T02:12:00.001-07:00

Pre Ballet/Tap Combo Classes

Here is Michaela (2nd from the right) with some of her classmates. Michaela had her very first recital on the 9th and absolutely loved it. Oh, she was SO cute. It was a wonderful performance with about 130 students. Michaela was the youngest dancer in the entire show. Some of the teachers and alumni performed and of the students, the oldest were Seniors in high school.

Michaela was asked to dance with both her regular "younger" girls class as well as with the "older" girls class (aged 6-8). The older class was short and needed one more dancer. So the studio's owner asked if Michaela could do both classes' performances. She danced in a total of four numbers. She said that she loved being on stage and had so much fun.

She loves to dance and just can't seem to get enough of it. She is constantly asking if it's Saturday yet (the day of her lessons). Because she danced with the other class, she has been taking two hours straight of lessons for about three months now. But, even after her class, she still wants to stay to watch the teenagers dance. I think dance is going to be Michaela's "thing".

Always and Forever

2007-06-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

Today is our 8th Anniversary. I surprised Keith by arranging for Ris to watch the kids. I picked Keith up from work and let him pick out a restaurant for us. We ended up going to the Rusty Pelican and had a table right by the water. We indulged in some very yummy Calamari and some garlic bread for an appetizer. We both got Crab Bisque and then both ended up ordering a Salmon dish. Keith's was crab stuffed and mine was broiled and was served with shrimp in a lobster cream sauce. Oh it was SO good. We got a yummy mudpie for dessert compliments of the restaurant.

After dinner, we went to Ikea and looked at all the fun furniture and things. We talked about all kinds of things and were we would put it. It was fun walking around and just looking and dreaming. We closed down Ikea and went to see if there was a movie we'd want to watch. We didn't find one, and so we went to the bookstore instead. We had coffee and browsed the books.

On our way home, our wedding song, "From This Moment", sung by Shania Twain and Bryan Adams, was playing on the radio.

We had a nice evening out. Not too exciting for most people, but it was just perfect for us. We look forward to the rest of our lives together.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2007-06-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we all took a day off from reality and went to Disneyland. It wasn't exactly a spur of the moment kind of thing, but up until the night before, we weren't 100% positive if we were going. We had been trying to go for about three weeks now.

We had a lot of fun. We spent the entire day there (around noon to midnight) and still did not get to do all we wanted. The weather was nice. Overcast and cool and in mid afternoon the sun came out. It never got too hot.

The crowds were not so bad either. We didn't go on any bigger kids' rides, so most of our wait times were 10-15 minutes. We did Fast Pass a few of the more popular rides and that sped us through the lines.

All the kids did really well. We took our time doing things and had fun going here and there. Kaela got to meet Aladdin. Kenna and Kaela met Tigger and Eeyore. The boys didn't want to meet any of them! They did get to enjoy a Star Wars Jedi Academy performance. We saw Darth Vader, some Jedi masters and Imperial Storm Troopers. We watched the parade and had lots of yummy food to eat. We had fun browsing the stores. We found a Disney Princess Store that we didn't know was there. An entire store filled with Disney Princess stuff. Very fun!

As for our favorites, I think Kevin liked Star Tours and Autopia the best. Keith seemed to enjoy the Astro Blasters ride inspired by Toy Story 2. Kaela liked the Tea Cups. She, Keith and Kyle were in one Tea Cup and Kevin, Kenna and I were in another. Kevin spun us around at his leisure. The other half of the family (the thrill seekers) were in their cup spinning as fast as they possibly could. My favorite part was It's A Small World. I would have to saw that Kenna and Kyle probably like that the best too. We closed down the park. Kenny started to fall asleep around 10pm. We woke her for the Teacups and after that we headed to the gift shops and then home.

I Belong In...

2007-05-29T02:43:00.000-07:00

Check out this fun blog quiz. Here are my results...

You Belong in 1981

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

5 Things I Love About....

2007-05-29T01:44:00.000-07:00

Keith

No matter what I look like, or how fat I feel, he always makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.
He always does whatever it takes to make to me happy.
He knows my deep dark secrets and still loves me.
I sometimes catch him looking at me with a silly grin on his face.
He enjoys playing with the kids and loves them to no end.

Kevin

He is a kind, sensitive soul, but is still all boy.
He watches over his sisters and brother. He is the big brother to a T.
He hugs me for no reason and will hold my hand when we walk together.
No matter where we are, he always sees something beautiful.
He is respectful of the Earth and does not disrespect it.

Michaela

She is strong willed and knows what she wants.
She is willing to try anything at least once.
She is a girlie girl, but is definitely a Michaela and not a Makayla.
She already understands that a woman has power over a man.
She is not one of the mean girls.

Kyle

He always has a smile on his face.
He brings a fun presence to our family. Everything is funny to him.
When he does something bad, all I have to do is look at his face and I'm not so angry.
He is a momma's boy.
He is only 3 and a half but has a wise presence about him, almost as if he's done it all before.

McKenna

She commands attention when she is in the room.
When she is around other 2 year olds at the park, she seems much more sophisticated socially and developmentally.
She thinks she is five.
She is a troublemaker (yes, I love that about her!).
She knows her smile can melt anyone's heart.

Oh I could go on and on for each of these lists. I never knew that I could love so much.

Pictures for You

2007-05-29T01:17:00.001-07:00

Kevin and Michaela on a train tour at Calico Ghost Town. We went with Kevin's Cub Scout Pack. I forgot to mention that Kevin received his Tiger Rank! He is now on his way to becoming a Wolf. He loves cub scouts. He looks forward to every meeting and wants to be an Eagle scout someday. We had fun at this campout. Keith and I went as did Kevin and Michaela. We left the babies with my parents. This was the same weekend as my birthday (April 21). Happy birthday to me!

This picture cracks me up! This is Kyle in McKenna's Barbie Fairytopia costume. I dared him to put it on. Well, it wasn't much of a dare. He thought it was funny. He is such a joker and seems to find humor in everything. Michaela thought Kyle looked good in this. haha I think I gave Kyle an extra cookie for being a good sport and making us all laugh. ------------>

<----------- Here's my cute girl! This was on Easter (obviously). All the other cousins were waiting patiently by the side gate to come running into the back yard, but someone (Grandma Tessie) brought Kenny to the backyard. She was all over those eggs and her bucket was almost full before the other cousins even made it into the back yard! Not to worry though. There were 9 cousins and they each got at the least 20 eggs. They all had a great time at the Easter egg hunt.

Almost Two Months

2007-05-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

SO yes, this is the longest I've gone without updating this blog. There is so much going on right now and we just seem to keep getting busier and busier. I will try (like I always say) to update more. I have so many projects right now. Let's give a brief recap...

So, our lease is up at the end of June. We have no idea where we are moving. We are in limbo. Me might stay here, we might move back to San Diego. We just are not sure.

We are not sure because Keith may be getting a new job in San Diego. Five minutes from my parents house. There hasn't been an offer yet and the deal is still getting worked over. I just wish we knew for sure what was going on. I want it all to fall into place before school starts. We are just on hold right now. There are so many things that will be effected by this. Kevin is supposed to start summer school in July. Kyle is signed up for a preschool here for the fall and Kaela is supposed to start Kindergarten in the fall. All this is on hold until we know. If we move, Kyle might not be going to preschool in the fall. The waiting lists are a mile long.

Kevin and summer school. Well, we've talked about it, and we've conferenced with his teacher. He is being held back and will not promote next year. Although his math is right in there and very strong, his reading skills are not quite where they should be. We figured that it would be better to hold him back for first grade as opposed to later. He is fine with it. He says, "There's nothing wrong with that. When I get to second grade, I'll be super smart!" He's so sweet.

Michaela and her recital. Michaela's first recital is coming up. She is in the 3-5 year old ballet/tap class. She had missed a few lessons and she was allowed to do make-ups with the 6-8 year old class. Well, the "older" girl class didn't have enough girls for the recital, so they asked Michaela to dance with the older girls too. So, she has been having two one hour classes every Saturday for about two months now. She has done really well keeping up with the girls, but she looses focus after about and hour and a half. She is dancing to "A Whole New World" from Aladdin with the younger girls (ballet) and doing "Beauty and the Beast" with the older girls (ballet). Both classes will be combined for the tap portion. They are doing "Singing in the Rain". The numbers are cute, but they are all over the place. That's fine though. They are young and for most of them, this will be their first recital.

Kyle is potty trained. He potty trained himself. He decided one day (about two weeks ago) that he was going to wear underwear. He's had one accident since. He does his business and I don't have to do anything. It is so nice. He has it down pat and even wakes up dry. He all of a sudden is a big boy! I don't have to dress him, put on his shoes or change his diaper. Three down one to go!

McKenna. Oh man. What can I say about my trouble maker. She is certainly my handful. She isn't wearing earrings right now because she decided that it was fun to stick her earring backs up her nose. The first time she did it, we couldn't find the earring. So, we took her to her doctor so they could explore up her nose. What led us to the doctor was that she said "Nose!" and I looked at her nose and saw the earring back. I used tweezers to get it out. I couldn't find the earring and she kept saying it was in her nose. The doc couldn't find it, so he had us go get x-rays. So, after it was all said and done, the earring is still missing. It wasn't up her nose, she didn't swallow it. So you'd think after all that poking and probing, she would never stick anything up her nose again. So wrong! The next day it was an unpopped popcorn kernel. I worked for 30 minutes to get that sucker out. So after *that* you'd think she'd learn her lesson. No, not our dear Kenny. A few days later up went another earring back. My daughter no longer wears earrings. I just poke the holes every few days so that they don't seal up.

Let's see. What's new with me? Still stamping and swapping. I have a new venture. I am now a consultant for Taste of Home Entertaining. I have a cool website, but I am not allowed to post the link on my personal website (or blog). But in case you are curious it's my first name, middle initial and last name (all one word) at tohe dot com. There is an online register in under my last name in which you can look at all the cool products. Better yet, send me an email (CreativeStamper@sbcglobal.net) and I will mail you a catalog.

So, that's us in yet another nutshell. I shall try to post more. Maybe the saga of our move...

We Remember

2007-05-28T03:16:00.000-07:00

My April Fools

2007-04-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

So yes, my oldest and my youngest were born on April 1. Kevin is now 7 and McKenna is now 2. We celebrated their birthday's much the same way we celebrated Michaela's. Kevin requested pizza which was so easy! We ordered from our local fav and got some salad to go with it. Here's us looking much the same as we did last week! We had the same guest. We had balloons. We had FUN!

Kevin got a scooter and he has been whizzing around the neighborhood on it. His best buds Eddie and Danny also have scooters and they cruise around. They have a lot of fun riding together.

As expected, Kevin also got a HUGE Lego set and some Bionicles. He got some cash, some clothes, a great marker set from Aunt Karensa and Uncle Paul. A gift card and a magazine subscription from Mom.

I think he had a fun birthday. He was excited about his dinner. Oh! I almost forgot! Keith took Kevin to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They had fun seeing that together. Afterwards, they went to Target and Kevin picked out t gift for Kenny. He is really proud to be able to share his birthday with her!

Kenna is so cute. When you ask her how old she is, she holds up both pointer fingers and says, "Tew".

Here she is with her cake. It is actually a Mocha roll, but Yummy all the same! She is intently staring at her cake. She was very eager to blow out her candles. We had to relight them twice because she blew them out before we finished singing to her!

Michaela is Five!

2007-03-26T00:02:00.000-07:00

My girl is now five! Today was her birthday, but she "officially" turned five just about half an hour before I wrote this. It was a good day. It was filled with fun and special treats. I have some great pictures too!

The day started out with Keith making us a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs and O'Brien potatoes. Yum! After breakfast, Keith made the kids some hot chocolate. Then we straightened up a bit and Michaela opened a few presents from us.

She was so excited and wanted to open up all her presents, but we were having a family dinner for her that night and wanted her to be able to open more later.

Here are the kids posing for the camera before she opened some of her gifts.

After this, they got dressed and we cleaned up for our dinner guests. They played outside and then Keith took them all to the park later in the afternoon.

We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Ris, all of us and my Aunt Faring. Michaela requested spaghetti and meatballs for her birthday dinner. We had that and salad, garlic bread and I even made Minestrone soup for scratch. I am quite surprised how yummy it came out! Of course we used Kaela's birthday plates. For her dinner plates she picked an Ariel design. The dessert plates were Belle and the napkins were Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses. We added the extra table so that we could all eat at the same table. It was tight, but it was so nice to be all together!

We were all stuffed, but still had cake to devour! Mom brought - per Kaela's request - a chocolate cake from Red Ribbon. This cake seems to be a tradition as far as birthday cakes goes with our family!

Here's Kaela after blowing out the candles. We all enjoyed our cake and ice cream. We even had fresh cut strawberries! After cake, the adults had strawberry Margaritas - Tequila compliments of Aunt Joyce and Uncle Orv!

After cake and Margaritas, Kaela finally got to open up the rest of her gifts. She had a nice round of gifts waiting to be opened. All week we received packages. She got gifts and cards from Aunt Julie, Grandma Fischer, Grandma Karen, Aunt Karensa and Uncle Paul, Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Mary and of course the gifts that her dinner guest brought. Oh, and a couple more from us.

She received some really nice gifts including an Easter dress from Grandma Tessie and Grandpa Manny, a pretty blanket from Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Mary and a really neat hand sewn sundress from Grandma Karen. Here she is modeling her new sundress. She, of course, wants to wear it to school tomorrow, but it looks like we might have to hold off a few days. It is supposed to rain!

Well, I'd say all in all Michaela's birthday was a good one! She had a great day and was showered with gifts from her loved ones. So, off until next weekend when I can report on Kevin's and McKenna's birthday days!

ETA: Okay, so I edited this on 3/26. As my good friend, Julie, pointed out, Michaela is not six (as the pre-edit stated). Michaela has turned five! She just seems like she's six!

Find the Cure for Pediatric Cancer!

2007-03-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm walking in May to support the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

My family has been blessed to have met the Johnson Family. Their daugther Danielle and my son Kevin have been in the same classes for the last two years. Their youngest child, Thomas, was diagnosed with cancer when he was just three years old. Fighting the battle over the last two years has been very hard. Thomas has endured several painful and trying procedures and surgeries. The family has been through so much. But through it all, they stayed strong and really did all they could to keep their spirits up. Their family is the true definition of faith and hope! During his last round of testing, it has been determined that he is in remission!

To see what Thomas had to endure and what his family went through has inspired me to help any way I can. So, my son Kevin and I will be walking in the 9th Annual PCRF Reaching for the Cure Run/Walk.

If you are local to Orange County, CA and would like to join, "Team Thomas", contact me and I will get you the info needed. If you want to help and sponsor me in the walk, please click below. It'll give you the info you need to help.

Donate Here!

I Don't Know Why I Can't Find the Time

2007-03-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like practically another month has come and gone and this poor blog has not gotten an update. I have been busy busy with life. But, when I'm asked what I've been up to, I don't have really anything to report. I am just going through life. Endless car rides here and there. TO the grocery store, Target, Walmart. Video store, post office. Ballet. Cub Scouts. Demo meetings, but no classes or workshops! People visiting - very fun! But, nothing worth blogging it seems. Or worth blogging but I don't have the time and by the time I do, it is well past "reporting" worthy. *sigh*

So, here is my big wow for today...it is 93 degrees today. Yes, that's right a HOT 93. I guess another "newsworthy" item. We are paying $3.10 a gallon for gas. Oh well, the price we pay for living in SoCal.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

Here are the kids right before dropping Kevin and Michaela off at school. Kevin, Michaela and Kyle all made valentine's cards yesterday. Kevin's class exchanged Valentine's and had a read-a-thon. They got to bring their pillows and two favorite books to read. He also made a huge heart pocket which held all his Valentines. Michaela also had Valentine activities at school today. They had a party at school and exchanged Valentines. Kaela made a special Valentine for her "boyfriend" Ryley. The one she made him one that says, "Sweet Love" on it. After school she went to her friend's birthday party. It was Princess themed, so all the little girls wore their Princess dresses. Very cute!

Kyle, McKenna and I spent the morning running around doing errands for our Valentine dinner tonight. We bought flowers and balloons and Valentines party ware. As a special treat, I told Kyle that he could pick a restaurant to have lunch at. He picked Chuck E Cheese. We had fun there. We had pizza, but while we were eating Kyle said his tummy hurt. Well, you guessed it. He lost his lunch at Chuck E Cheese. He threw up all over his clothes. It was good timing though because had he thrown up just ten minutes later, we would have been late picking up Kaela from the party and Kevin from school.

Well, that's Valentine's day for now. We are having our dinner soon. I'll write more later.

11 Days into 2007

2007-01-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

So, it is the 11th, well 12th as I post this in the early morning hours. I finally took down the outside Christmas decor on the 10th. All our other decorations (except our tree) are still up. The house is a mess. I just can't seem to find the motivation to clean. I don't have any new year's resolutions, maybe if I write some down, it'll kick start me into actually doing something.

I think what it is is that the kids didn't go back to school until the 8th. I am still recuperating from them being home. It threw my well oiled schedule off!

So let's see. Well, remember the car accident we had way back on the weekend after Thanksgiving? Well, our car is still NOT fixed. The shop had it for a month and two days and after we got it back, there was a noise and a jarring metal on metal thing going on. I'm sick of dealing with the shop and insurance. I just want my Expedition back. At least we are fortune enough to have my parents (relatively) close by and we can borrow their SUV. What would we have done without them?

Okay, enough negativity. Let's talk kids...

Kevin ran a marathon this past Sunday. He didn't run the whole 26 miles in one shot. He ran the last mile. Keith went with him and actually ran too! Kevin earned hi Bobcat Badge and he earned his Tiger Cub badge. Our little cub scout wants to be in the Scouts all the way up to Eagle. He's really into it. They have a campout coming up in a few weeks.

Michaela has started up ballet again. The studio was closed for the holidays. She is back in school and is really enjoying it, of course. She is one smarty pants. Kevin was trying to read to us tonight. As Kevin was sounding out words, she'd lean over and tell him what they were. I have to sometimes tell Kaela to leave the room when Kevin is reading. She's going to give him a complex! Kaela didn't go back to school right on the first day back. I had the pleasure of taking care of her, as well as Kevin and Kyle, with a stomach virus. The last couple of days have not been pretty here. At least McKenna never got it!

Kyle is doing his same old thing. Loves his cars, loves his books. He likes to watch PBS Kids Sprout (a channel for preschoolers) over any other channel. He is getting more and more mature each day. I think I may *gasp* start to potty train him soon (yes, finally, I know!).

Speaking of potty training, I just may try to train McKenna at the same time. She hates a dirty diaper and will even get me a diaper and wipes when she needs a change. If I don't respond quick enough, she sometimes tries to take her pants off herself! She is getting to act more like a three/four year old than a not quite two year old! She can escape from her crib and she can almost climb right back in. She tries to dress herself and put on her shoes. She has graduated from her high chair and now sits in Kyle's old blue chair. Kyle has graduated to an "adult" chair. She is talking. Drink! Shoes! Poo Poop! Mama! Dada! Hey! Noooooo! Thank you! Please! She definitely understand everything we say. She loves to watch TV and she sings. But of course, her MOST favorite thing to do is to bug the heck out of Kyle, Kaela & Kevin. Oh, and one more thing. She has lost another pair to an earring set. That's 6 sets! Kaela still has the same ones she's had since her ears were pierced almost 5 years ago.

Anyway, as for Keith and me. We are okay. Keith is on the look out for new prospects. I am doing lots of fun stamping/craft stuff. At the end of the month I am going to the Craft & Hobby Association Winter Trade Show. A HUGE event with over 3500 vendors. Then in February, as the kids' Christmas present to me, I am going to go to the scrapbook expo. I get to go two days in a row and I am taking some great classes. I can't wait. I am looking SO forward to both events.

Well, it's past 1am. I should go. Good night!

Happy 2007!

2007-01-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

SO my last post was in the beginning of November and two months passed at the blink of an eye! There is so much to report, I just don't know where to start. So, I think what I'll do is just post a picture of the kids (the Christmas card picture) and then go from there. When I have time, I'll post more pictures in our photo albums.

Let's start with how we rang in the new year. We spent New Year's Eve having a nice family day. We woke early, okay not SO early, but early enough - 8:30. We got the kids all dressed for the day and we headed to the Wild Animal Park. We are season pass holders and decided that we really needed to use the passes! We did go to the San Diego Zoo on Christmas day, so the passes have already paid for themselves. Anyway, we had a great time, as always at the WAP. We rode the train and walked around. Kevin was our official map reader and he kept us on track as to where to go. He led us along to see the giraffes, then the tiger, then the elephants. When we finished our trek, we stopped by the Hidden Jungle and had ice cream. It was cold for us - mid 60s, but the ice cream there is yummy! Keith and I were joking around that you could easily spot the locals from the tourists. The locals had on sweaters or light jackets and pants on. The tourists were all wearing short sleeves and shorts. Anyway, we left the park well after closing and were able to catch some of the holiday lights they still had up. After we left there, we ate at a Mexican restaurant. It was a chain restaurant and served what Keith calls Americano food. They were really busy, but the service was not so bad. After dinner, we headed home. The kids immediately went to bed and Keith and I sat to watch TV. We watched the ball drop, then hung out for about 15 more minutes and went to bed.

Today was a relaxing day. I spent most of the day shopping. It was fun for me. The stores weren't crowded and I got to take my time browsing. I brought home Indian food and that's what we had for dinner. We basically just hung out today. It was a good day.

Well, that's all for now. Good night and happy new year!

97!!!

2006-11-06T13:26:00.000-08:00

It's the sixth of November, and it is 97 degress outside. How weird is that??? It feels like the middle of summer. Oh well. We'll see where this weather goes!

Trick-or-Treaters

2006-10-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

Halloween 2006

Well, here are my little trick-or-treaters. Kevin the Ninja, Kaela as Cinderella, Kyle the Pirate and Kenna the Butterfly Princess. The kids had loads of fun this Halloween. They got a TON of candy. We went with a bunch of the other neighborhood kids. A big pack of twelve kids. Kevin, Kaela and Kyle went, so that meant we comprised 25% of the group. lol Keith and Kenna stayed home to pass out the candy. Anyway it was so cute. Kaela and her best friend Natalie held hands the entire time. Natalie was dressed as Snow White. Kevin and his friend Danny (Natalie's brother) stuck together and Kyle trailed behind the girls, preferring mama to anyone else. While trick-or-treating the group stopped for candy breaks in which they each had a piece before running off to the next house. They had a great time and despite all the candy they ate, went right to bed, off to dream about candy.

Last Year's Pumpkin

2006-10-31T20:44:00.000-08:00

This is last year's Halloween pumpkin. I just had to repost this because I thought the picture turned out just great. We carved this year's pumpkin last night. It is always such a fun thing to do. I remember Kevin's first "real" Halloween and how much he enjoyed carving the pumpkin with Keith. One of our most fun Halloweens was the Halloween we spent up in Washington. Maria, Ellie and Colin, as well as my Dad and Ris came up. Mom had a VERY full house! Each kid got a pumpkin, even Kyle who was only 2 weeks old. We sat out under Mom's carport and carved out all the pumpkins. It was nice that day, but it got COLD that night. I love Halloween. It is such a fun day!

How Beauty is Made

2006-10-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is a short film made through Dove's Self Esteem Fund. I think this video should be seen by all teenage girls and young women, maybe even some of us "older" women. Take a look and pass it on.

Holy Hits Batman!

2006-10-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Wow! Our counter hit over 6,000. This time last year I was posting that we had hit 2,000. That's 4,000 hits in the course of a year. Our website is posted on splitcoastbloggers.blogspot.com. It's a listing of blogs of stampers that frequent splitcoaststampers.com. A great group of stampers I might add. According to my website stats, we get about 10-12 hits from splitcoasters almost daily. Then there is family and friends (not that there are tons of those). We also get the random surfers. Then we get hits from google searches. Some surfed on after searching for "Navajo Sandwich" or "gets her ears pierced" or "Days of Our Lives". Apparently searching on these keys words pulls up our blog. Some might argue that we are too "public". I think we aren't anymore public than others out there. I personally am comfortable with what I post, otherwise I wouldn't post it. So, to our loyal readers, or casual browers, thank you!

New PJs

2006-10-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

Brand New PJs

We got a box full of goodies today from Mom. The kids got some new clothes and these PJs. Of course they all wanted to wear them tonight. I lined them up and took this picture before they went to bed. They all love their PJs and they suit them perfectly. Kevin's are Wildcats PJs, Kaela's are Princess, Kyle's are Dinosaurs and Kenna's are pastel green with flowers. I think this picture is hilarious. Kevin and Kaela are all so identical in their poses. Kyle and Kenna are barely standing still. They are all tucked away asleep right now. Nice and comfy.

Kyle's Birthday Party

2006-10-16T01:16:00.000-07:00

Kyle's birthday is on the 17th, but we celebrated this weekend. Mom, Dad and Ris came up, and we all had a birthday lunch for Kyle. I love this picture. This is a genuine happy smile. He was so excited about his birthday celebration. Big smiles all around from him especially when we were singing Happy Birthday. He received some very nice presents including clothes from Grandma Tessie and Grandpa Manny, books from Auntie Ris, shoes and a book from Grandma Karen, and a movie and money from Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Mary. The night before his party, we all went out to dinner (we being the immediate family). We ate at Denny's not all that glamorous, but it was fast and family friendly. After that we went to ToysRUs. Kyle picked out an Emergency Vehicle die cast set. He's been playing with it all weekend. Aside from the yummy cake, we had sandwiches and the usual sides to go with it. We are having a nice dinner and more cake for him on his actual birthday. I'll of course post more pictures of that later. Well, this was just a quick update and picture. I am tired and off to bed. Good night!

Kevin

2006-10-10T00:18:00.000-07:00

I know you can't see his face here, but yes, this is Kevin. He is doing homework. He is in the first grade, and we work on homework more than one hour everyday. Well, not everyday, Monday through Thursday. His teacher is GREAT. She is so loving, gentle and caring. I volunteered to be one of two room moms. It'll be fun helping her out. Well, I do think that all the homework is paying off. Kevin is doing great in Math and his reading is progressing wonderfully! He couldn't read this summer, but in the short time that school has been in session, he has learned to read a lot. He read me four books tonight as part of his homework. Here's what he does every week for homework. This doesn't include any work that he didn't finish in class. He brings that home too to be returned the following day. Anyway, here's what he does every week. He has a list of spelling words. There are eight every week. On top of those words, he has a list (about 10) of vocabulary words. Then a list of wall words that he has to know by sight. There are about 8 of those. Then he needs to read 20 minutes a day. He has a short four page book that he has to be able to read and then answer comprehensive questions about it. He has one logic/math problem a day. Also in the homework packet is two sheets front and back of math. I don't remember doing homework until the 3rd grade. It's tough to work with him for an hour to and hour and a half every day. Well, other than school, he is now in Cub Scouts. He is enjoying this very much. He is going camping along with Keith with his pack at the end of the month. He is looking forward to that. Kevin brought home a flyer today about the kid's run training program for the Orange County Marathon. He wants to do this. He will train for 10 weeks and in the course of training will run a complete marathon. He will run the last mile during the actual marathon in January. One really cool thing about this is a fundraising event. 100% of all monies he collects will go directly to his school. Every cent! He says he really wants to do this. I told him that this is A LOT of running. He seems to understand that. Well, that's enough to keep him busy!

Michaela

2006-10-10T00:10:00.000-07:00

Michaela is having so much fun these days. She's already gone to one birthday party this school year. This is a picture of her in her ballet outfit. I wanted to get her a black leotard or tutu, but she would not have it. She wanted all pink. She is doing really well in the class. I'm pretty happy with it in that of the three classes, she was one of two students in the class. And for most of the class time, she was the only one there. The one lesson in which there were four girls total, her teacher held her hand and danced with her the most. Keith has taken her the last two times and he says she is the best one there. The only one that really listens and dances. The other little girls just do their own thing. She is having a lot of fun at school and is doing so much more socially in class. She also has a lot of fun playing here in the neighborhood. She and her friend Natalie are SO into the girlie stuff. They are always playing house and Princesses. We got Kaela (really me) the digitally remastered Little Mermaid. I am slowing moving my Disney VHS collection to DVD. Since Kaela loves the Princesses so much, it's not hard to buy them! She is constantly talking Pocahontas this, Cinderella that, Little Mermaid this, Sleeping Beauty that. I don't know where she gets all these girlie tendencies. Certainly not from me. lol Anything pink and girlie, that's Kaela.

Kyle

2006-10-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

So, this is not the cutest picture of Kyle, but I think this is hilarious! His birthday is next week and although he never saw the movie, he insists on having a "Cars" themed party. We are having a small party for him - us, Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Ris. I'm not sure what we are doing yet though. Kyle is in the "me do it" phase. He tries, but gets frustrated when he can't do something. We see a lot of him looking like this picture. He communicated very well these days. I've noticed that he's learned how to make himself seem innocent just by his expressions. "I didn't do it!" and those eyes. You know the look, "Really I didn't" big sad pleadingly cute eyes. He is Kenna's protector these days. He is always looking after her and insists that I not leave Kenna behind while we walk. Well, she is slow and if I don't keep walking forward, the short walks will become really long walks. Kyle is in love with Dora and Blue. He likes the Wonder Pets. He loves to sing in the car and is always moving to the music - on the beat even! He is still a smiley as ever and is a comedian in his young age. Everything is funny to him. Even when he is getting scolded. It's hard to yell at him while he is cracking that smile. What else? He hasn't learned to use the potty yet, but he did get a potty ring. He loves that thing. If he would just use it to go potty! He is a big boy. His waist is just a bit smaller than Kevin's. He isn't tall, but he definitely has my build. I can't wait for him to start preschool next year. I know he'll love it. He still loves his Barbie scooter and his Hello Kitty umbrella, but refuses anything else girlie. I tried to buy him a pink shirt and he refused. He is going to be a pirate for Halloween - which he is really excited about. I'll for sure take pictures because when he tried it on, he looked darn cute!

McKenna

2006-10-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

What can I say about my baby girl? Well a lot actually! She is officially 18 months old. I can't believe it. Time flies. I know I say that in almost every post, but as you can see, time is flying by so fast, I have about a chance a week to update. Kenny is our little daredevil. She is not scared of jumping off a high ledge. She falls and scrapes her knee and just gets up. Her legs are full of scratches. She wants to do everything the big kids do. She climbs the high ladders at the park and goes down slides that are one and a half times my height. She is fearless. She likes to do things on her own time and likes to dilly dally behind us while walking. If you backtrack to get her, she turns and runs. She laughs the whole time she is running. Let's see physically, she is solid. She is strong. She needs a haircut! She has eight teeth, four tops, four bottoms. No molars yet, but she can eat just about anything. And boy does she eat. She can eat more than any of the big kids. She is opinionated and will scream if she doesn't get what she wants. She is stubborn too. Her way of the highway. And she is only 18 months old. Yikes!

My New Logo

2006-09-24T01:38:00.000-07:00

My New Logo

So rather than purchase "vendor approved" business cards, I opted to get my own business cards that were a bit less restrictive. On the "vendor approved" cards, I had to put my title. I plan on kicking up my business a bit this year and one of my goals is to promote two levels. Well, in promoting, I would have to repurchase business cards, or give out cards with the wrong title. So, I created my own logo, to print out my own cards. So there you go. How do you like it?

Happy Sunday

2006-09-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

The first half of our weekend has been busy busy. Kaela had her first dance lesson today. She was very cute and picked up on the steps very easily. Her class is not full at all and in fact, for the first 20 minutes, she was the only one there. It was practically a private lesson. Another little girl showed up 20 minutes into the lesson and another about 40 minutes in. It was very cute.

So, of course she is going to continue. We went all over town looking for she little outfit and ballet slippers and tap shoes. I wanted to try to go cheap and get things from Target and Payless Shoes as opposed to the dance shop. The school actually said that expensive stuff wasn't really necessary for kids Kaela's age. Well, first we went to Target, no luck. Nothing. Then we went to Mervyn's We got her leotard, thighs, tutu and ballet slippers there. All on sale. Woohoo! Then we went to Payless for tap shoes. None there in her size. So, we tried another Target. None there. Then we went to another Payless. None there in her size either. Then off to Walmart. None in her size. By this time, we had been out almost three hours. I finally broke down and got her "real" tap shoes from the dance shop.

So, Kaela and I weren't alone in our adventure today. Kevin was with us. We bought his cub scout uniform. We were in and out of the scout shop in 5 minutes. We went there first. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that that would be an indication of our day. Kaela's stuff was not even remotely easy. Kevin is very excited about his uniform. He looked at his scout guidebook and oh'd and ah'd over everything in it. I think both kids are going to have a great time in their new activities.

Kevin's school is once again doing a gift wrap fundraiser. I am a bit more active in the PTO this year and we had our first meeting of the year. We went over the PTO budget for the school year. I had no idea, but this gift wrap fundraiser is the biggest fundraiser for the school. I won't give you a dollar amount, but let's just say that with the money raised by this fundraiser alone, you could buy yourself a nice new sedan. Not a bare minimum, no features sedan, but a nice sedan with some really nice extras. Yeah. It blew me away. So, does anyone want to buy some gift wrap???

Keith is doing well. He got his raise. A nice one. Over 9%. He also had his interview with the other department. They like him and are interested. They will see what they can do. Keith just needs to figure out if he wants to switch departments.

I started with a new Bible study. Seems like it's going to be very interesting. It last through May. So, I feel like I have been busy busy busy. Carting kids around, doing PTO stuff and this new Bible study, not to mention all the stamping swaps I am in.

Kyle and Kenny. Doing wonderfully. Kenny is probably going to get her very first hair cut. It is falling into her eyes and needs a trim. She needs the back trimmed too. She has long hair that ends in a "V" right between the shoulder blades.

Well, there is so much to think about. I can't wait for the 1st to come round. I have a TON of Halloween stuff that I want to put up. I like decorating for Halloween. We have some fun stuff. Don't even get me started on Christmas. I have SO much more for Christmas. So, we have my mom's birthday along with a big birthday bash, Kyle's birthday, parent teacher conferences, Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then New Years. Oh my. It is going along much too fast.

Okay, so that's it for now. Not much going on, but so much going on at the same time. You know what I mean. It's just life.

Kyle's Haircut

2006-09-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Kyle's First Professional Cut

He finally did it. He finally agreed to go to the barber. I asked him this morning, and he finally said yes. So, now my baby boy now longer looks like a toddler boy. He looks like a real boy! lol I think he looks like his cousin Colin.

Kaela's Back in School

2006-09-17T23:12:00.000-07:00

Kaela's First Day

Wow! Kaela started school last Wednesday, but this is my first chance to post. School has started up again and things are in full swing. I am the co-chair for one of the committees for Kevin's school's PTO. I am shuttling the kids around and trying to keep the everyday household stuff under control. Kevin started Cub Scouts and Keith is going along with him. Kaela starts ballet/tap class next Saturday (she missed the first class that occurred yesterday). I am trying to crank out my Mom's birthday party invitations. We had a birthday party today. I feel so rushed and busy. Ack! Kevin also wants to do karate, so we are looking for a relatively inexpensive place. Not having much luck!

Keith is busy at work and has an interview with another department on Monday (today if you are reading this on Monday). They are very interested in him. Hopefully something will come of it and he will not be so bored at work. He prefers to be busy work while he is at work.

What else is going on? I am starting in a new Bible Study on Wednesday. As far as stamping goes, I am in a ton of swaps and I am hosting a few. So, I am really busy there. Kyle and Kenna are just chugging along. Kyle is now talking in sentences and Kenna is getting more and more headstrong. When she wants something, she wants it. No one can get in her way. We've noticed that Kyle is taking the same approach with Kenna that Kevin took with Kaela. Kenna can hit him, scream at him and yell at him, but Kyle just won't be mean back to her. This is a good thing! lol It would be terrible if he attacked her back.

So, other than life being really busy right now, life is just going on. Nothing extraordinary to report. If there is, I can't remember it, so then it must not be all that extraordinary! I really just wanted to share Kaela's picture. She is already enjoying school so much and she is glad to be back.

Good bye for now.

With a Tear in My Eye, He's Off!

2006-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Kevin starts school at 8:40. Michaela starts school at 9:00. Her preschool is clear across town and into the next. To park the car, unstrap all the kids, walk Kevin to his class's line, wait for the bell, watch the kids walk away, go back to the car, strap them all in, drive to Kaela's school, park, unstrap the kids, and walk to Kaela's class would take SO much longer than 20 minutes. As a result, Kevin is now getting dropped off in front of the school, and he walks himself to class. Today was our first day of actually doing this. As I drove away from school, I looked in the rearview mirror and saw my baby trotting to class, getting lost in a sea of much bigger children. I teared up and softly cried.

Kevin's First Day

2006-09-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

Kevin's First Day

Well, Kevin went back to school today. First Grade. Wow. That just amazes me how fast time flies. I was a bit worried while I packed his lunch. Kevin is a snacker. He eats all day long. I hope he can hold out until lunch.

He wore a green shirt today. Of course that's what he wanted. He also had his camo green backpack. In the backpack is his green pencil box. So we get to school and look at the class lists. Guess who his teacher is. Yup, Mrs. Green. There was a note next to the first grade class lists saying that first graders may have to be changed around a bit and class assignments won't be finalized until the 8th day of school. I hope Kevin does not get switched out. Before we left for school, we talked about how he might not have his best friends in the same class. Well, he took it in stride and said, "That's okay, I can see them at lunch. I can meet new friends too." As it turns out, none of his play buddies are in his class. He does have some familiar faces in his class though. He pointed out two girls and two other boys that were in his Kindergarten class.

I was looking at all the kids lined up to go into the class. Kevin was one of the tallest ones there. Last year, I noticed he was one of the shorter ones. He is growing so fast. I had to get him all new jeans and shoes. He got a bunch of new shirts too. He likes button down shirts and thinks that that is what he should wear to school. He prefers them over tee shirts. I got some great shirts on sale. You gotta love those sales!

Well, I get to pick him up at 2:30. I hope he fares well.

Today in 1781

2006-09-05T17:19:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1781, colonists from Spain founded a settlement in southern California which they named El Pueblo Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula. The name was later shortened to Los Angeles, or better known "LA".

Now, I don't particularly love LA, nor do I particularly like it. And we won't go into the tragic history of it. But, for obvious reasons (well, obvious to those that *personally* know me) I just had to post this.

A New Do

2006-08-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Michaela's New Do

Well, remember in my last post when I said that the kids were in desperate need of haircuts? Well, I gave Kaela a cut yesterday. Notice how long her hair was. It reached down to her bottom. Now it exposes the entire neck. The last time I cut it this short was when we still lived in Washington just before we left. So, it took her two years to grow it as long as it was on the left. I think it makes her look a lot longer than she did. She likes it a lot.

The Kids Today

2006-08-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today - After Lunch

I know I always say it, but time is flying! This is a picture of the kids from earlier today. Notice that they are all in desperate need of a haircut! So, I've been really bad about keeping this blog up to date. I was doing good up until just after we moved. That was almost six months ago. We still have boxes to unpack. It only goes to show that most of the stuff in the boxes are unneeded and I should just get rid of most of it.

Kevin starts first grade on the 7th. I hope he has some of his good friends in his class. We had one of our picnics in the living room today. I was a but bummed as I realized that this would be one of the last picnics we would have together. Once Kevin is in school, he'll be there a full day and won't be having lunch with us anymore. Oh my baby is growing up!

I went shopping this weekend for jeans for Kevin. I ended up going to Goodwill, just like last year. I got him four pairs of jeans, two Levi's, one Old Navy and one WalMart brand. I think I did a great job. They were only $3 each. They look great, no holes or stains. No one would ever know they came from the Goodwill.

Kaela starts up again on the 11th. She will be going back to the same preschool with the same teacher. She is in the older kid's class and will be bringing home homework! She is already copying letters and I have a feeling that by the end of this school year, she will be reading. She's been having a great time playing princess with one of the other little girls from the neighborhood. They dress up in their Belle and Cinderella costumes complete with toy dress heels. Kaela has all kinds of blisters from them, but she still insists on wearing them. I had to forbid her from wearing them because her feet have so many little scabs on them. They look painful. You know if they were her "regular" shoes, she'd be complaining to high heaven.

Kyle, like I always say, is saying more. But, he really really is. He is much clearer than ever and is using longer sentences. I can almost understand everything he says. Including, when I ask if he wants to start potty training, "No potty, diapers." He has fallen in love with the Hummer vehicles he got from McD's. And he still loves his Blue's Clues. It will be fun hanging out with him when the big kids head back to school.

Kenna is talking more and more too. She clearly says Thank You and Please. What a polite young lady! lol She is playing by herself more and more and will hang out in her crib for about an hour after her nap before I have to get her out. I have listened to her by the door and it sounds as if she is talking and interacting with someone in there. Maybe it's her great grandparents visiting. She and Kevin both always seemed to be talking to someone that just wasn't there.

Keith's truck is back on the road. It was out of commission of about two weeks and we finally got it towed to the shop. It was the starter. At least it was something easy. Keith is busy at work as usual. He is antsy for a vacation. We are thinking about heading to Washington for Thanksgiving, although we are not sure what everyone else has planned.

I am doing good. I am finally feeling back to normal since surgery. All this time, I thought the aches and pains I was feeling was just my body getting old. I feel wonderful compared to what I was feeling. I did lose just over ten pounds before my surgery. I've only gained back three. This is the lightest I've weighed since before we got married. My pants are loose and my shirts aren't as tight. So, that was one good thing of having to be on a no fat diet. I was starving and the food was extremely boring, but I lost ten pounds.

As for everything else, things are going well. Stampin' is going good. Tomorrow will be my one year anniversary with the company. My business goals are looking up and I think overall I am doing well at it. I have a workshop next week - my second since I've started! I hope it goes well.

Okay, that's it for now. Thanks for reading!

I Must Be Getting Old, Time is Flying!

2006-08-01T23:31:00.000-07:00

SU Convention 2006

My First!

So, it is now August 1. Wasn't it just July 1st yesterday??? Anyway, lots has been going on. Let me first start with, sorry about the picture! Instead of a very cute picture of the kids with their Grandma at Disneyland, you are stuck with a picture of me. Why you ask? Well, after a full day at Disneyland and the next day of cute pics of the kids making cookies with Grandma, my digital camera decided to eat my pictures! I viewed the pictures and everything looked fine. I went to upload my pictures and what does my camera tell me? "Memory Card is not Formatted. Format now?" Ummmm. NO! So, thinking Keith can once again save my pictures (yes this has happened before), I gently ease the memory card out and put it on Keith's desk. Unfortunately, Keith, the miracle worker he is, can't seem to recover a darn thing. The disk is completely wiped. *Sigh* Oh well. Maybe when we go back (in five years!), we will have some good pictures.

So, so much has gone on, let me just recap here:

Summer is halfway over, the kids are going back to school soon!
I have been in pain since I returned from Convention. Chest pain that brought me to the ER. Nothing to worry about, EKG was normal as was the chest x-ray and blood work.
Keith's truck is acting up. It's not looking good.
The kids are still cute as ever. Seriously cute. I have to brag!
After several doctor's visits and another visit to the ER, it has been determined that I have to have my gallbladder removed.
I had a great time at Convention.
The weather is finally cooling down and our electric bill hasn't been anywhere near what I had estimated it to be. I estimated well over $350. Good thing I was WAY off.
Karen came and spent a whole week with us. (Which we have NO pictures of - see above)
We got to see Ellie, Colin and Maria for about a day when I came back from convention.
Life is good. Despite some small glitches, it is really good.

Okay, that it a short note for now. I will update you all on the gallbladder saga soon.

It's almost Wednesday!

2006-07-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

What's so special about Wednesday you ask? Well, I am headed to Salt Lake City for the Stampin' Up! Convention. I can't wait. This will be my first time to travel all by myself since before Keith and I met! Wow! I am so excited. I have been excited about it since I first learned that I was going to go all the way back in May.

Well, I am really busy getting ready. Stampers that attend make these cards called swaps. They basically are ideas and card fronts (a card without the back flap) that show of talent and techniques. We use these to ohhhh and ahhhh our customers. Well, I am making six different designs and brings over 200 of these. I just started a couple of days ago. I still have to pack up the kids (the are staying with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Ris) and I have to pack up myself! I know, I am the Queen of procrastination. Oh well. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Anyway, should get back to stampin! Here is a picture of the kids from yesterday. They are eating chocolate donuts with rainbow sprinkles that Keith brought them in the morning after running some errands. Enjoy!

Almost July!

2006-06-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Let them eat cake! Here's Kyle digging into his piece of Grandpa's birthday cake. On the 17th, Mom threw a big party for Dad's 65th birthday. It was a nice summer day, and we had the party outside in the backyard. Dad put up the canopies and we had tables and chairs brought in. Lots of family and friends attended. It was nice visiting with everyone. We even got a lot of the 1st generation cousins to sing Karaoke. I have the pictures, but I think my cousins would not be too pleased if I posted them. It was fun and a great time!

This month has been very busy for me. Kevin and Kaela both finished school. Kevin didn't have a graduation, but their last week of school was all fun and games. There was a Kindergarten carnival. I was able to help out with the help of Ris. She stayed home with the kiddos while I went. Kevin was so pleased that I could be there. A few of his classmates even gave me hugs! They are all so cute!

We went to a end of school year party at Kevin's friends house. A lot of his former classmates and their families were there. That was really enjoyable too. His teacher showed up and the kids insisted that she read them a book. Afterwards, the kids played with water balloons. Kaela got paired up with Kevin's friend Alyssa. It was so funny watching the two girls toss the balloons to each other. Neither could catch, nor throw. They were only standing about a foot from each other, but managed to drop and pop about 20 balloons!

Kaela had a bit of an accident the other day. Keith had to come home early and I took Kaela into the doctor. She slipped on a toy and whacked her head into the side of their wooden table. She slammed her right ear against it and managed to slice it pretty bad. It didn't cut all the way through and it didn't require stitches. The doctor said that it'll leave a noticeable scar. He also said they could recommend a plastic surgeon in her teens years if it bothers her that much. I think she can just keep her hair long.

Kyle is plugging away with the words. He is forming more sentences and you can almost understand everything he says. He seems to be a "big boy" now. But, I asked him if he was ready to start using the potty and he replied, "No. Pee diapers. No potty." Well then, I guess I'll ask him again next month.

Kenny. She is a climbing troublemaker. She climbs on everything. She can get on top of the dinner table and has even started to climb the ladder up Kevin's bunk. She is always on the kids' table and I swear if she could, she'd climb onto the dresser in the kids' room. She likes to make the other kids mad but turning the TV off and running away. I swear she has an evil laugh as she does it.

Kyle has taken on a nurturing side. I think he picked it up from Kevin. Whenever Kenna cries, he goes to her and strokes her hair and says, "Donh cry Nena." It is too cute. He's always finding toys to console her. He brings her her Teletubbies (which were Kevin's, then Kaela's, then Kyle's). He is pretty good at making her stop crying. He doesn't like when I leave her in her crib a little too long after she wakes from her naps and cries. He has figured out (which I am not sure how) how to lift her out of the crib and take her out.

Since Kevin has been spending more time outside with his friends. Kaela and Kyle have become quite the pals. They don't fight nearly as much as they used to just a few months ago. They actually play together. When Kevin comes back in, he just joins right up with them and Kenna too! I can actually find a few blocks of time during the day when the kids are all playing nicely together. I once in a while will hear a "Hey!" but then they seem to be able to resolve differences on their own.

Oh my babies, they are growing up too fast!

Let's see. What else?

Convention is less than 2 weeks away. SU! just released its new 2006-07 catalog and it is awesome! SU! has an incentive cruise for top earners and in 2008 they are cruising to Bermuda. I think I may have to take this more seriously and try to win it. That would be a cool vacation for me and Keith!

Mom is coming to visit for more than a week! Yippee! The kids are so excited to see Grandma again. They got some really cute postcards from her in the mail today and they loved them! They all carried them around the house all day today.

Keith's birthday is the same day that I leave for Convention. I can't say how old he is going to be. He hates when I mention it. lol I don't think he is old at all. He doesn't seem anywhere near 42 to me. Oops! Did I just type that out loud?

Well, I guess that is it for now. I know I keep saying I am going to do better at keeping up with the blog, but life gets in the way sometimes. Good night!

Happy 7 Years!

2006-06-15T23:45:00.000-07:00

Us, June 12, 2006

We celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday. This is a picture of us after we got home. It was past the kids' bedtime, but they still had tons of energy.

I was going to make a card for our anniversary, but I fell asleep (yes, I once again waited until the last minute to do something). By the time he got home, I was rounding out the third hour of my nap. I must've been tired. Keith got me a beautiful card, a really pretty sun catcher and of course some beanie bears. He got me the one named Fun because we always have fun when we go out together. The other he got me was named Dear One. He got that one because he says I am the Dear One. Ain't that sweet?

We had dinner at the local food court area. We had Indian food. It was really yummy. We didn't go out for a romantic dinner, but we still had a nice time. It was nice that we can actually sit in a restaurant with four kids and have a pleasant dinner. All the kids did great and I think the consensus of favorite food these days is Indian.

After dinner, we went to the "big" mall in the area and had ice cream at Cold Stone. The kids love their ice cream! You can kind of see in the picture that Michaela's hair is curled. She got it done at one of the little kiosk/carts at the mall. They were trying to get me to buy a ceramic curling iron. It was a really neat product, but they wanted $85 for it. Uh, no.

Anyway, the night was really enjoyable. The kids had fun walking around the mall and looking at the fountains and all the cool things to look at. Even though we weren't alone it was a really great night. I am not sure which I had more fun on - our first night of our honeymoon, or this night.

Seven Years Ago

2006-06-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

Us, June 12, 1999

This was us during our first dance as a married couple. What a fun wedding we had. We weren't there long, we hopped a plane a flew to Seattle. We had dinner that night at Ivar's and stayed at the Westin. We had a nice high floor and a perfect view of the sound. The next day, we went to Victoria and stayed at the Empress. We had a suite that over looked the harbor. We stayed in Victoria for a couple of nights then headed back to Seattle. We still talk about how much fun we had on our honeymoon.

I found a link to our online wedding album that I did back in 1999. I haven't visited it in a few years and I am even surprised that it still exists on tripod. The link is below, but I must warn you that with ever picture you view, there is an obnoxious pop-up ad. Maybe that's why I haven't visited in years!

Our Online Wedding Album - Posted in 1999

New Pictures

2006-06-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

I have just added a new photo album. It is listed on the left hand side as "May June 2006". Or, click here.

I have been really bad about the blog and I realize that I have only been updating once a month. I just need to organize my time better. *sigh*

There really has been a lot going on. One fun thing that happened on the 10th was we went to see the movie "Cars". It was so fun. Keith, I, Kevin and Kaela all went. We got free tickets for the premiere from AT&T. Along with the tickets, they provided the drinks (huge), popcorn (really huge) and a good bag for each kid. It was really a fun story. The kids enjoyed it and so did we!

We've been doing fun family stuff. Kevin's school had a spring fling that we went to. Stampin' Up! donated a lot of merchandise and I was able to make three nice baskets for the silent auction. We did a great job raising money with them!

We have also gone to the Discovery Science center. We go out for ice cream a lot too!

Kevin has been playing more with the neighborhood kids as we have finally let him venture out on his own. He has met a lot of good friends. His school is over next week.

Kaela is doing good. She is now writing letters and is copying words every chance she gets. She really wants to be a big girl asap!

Kyle is saying more and more (as always) and is getting more clear. He and I would go have bagels with Kenna every Tuesday together. It was fun, but will have to wait until the fall when the olders go back to school.

Kenna is actually saying a lot of words. Me, me, me. Cheese. Daddy. Mama. She is opinionated too. If she is not happy with you, she will yell at you. Ahhh! Ahhh! It is too funny.

Kenna's Bath

2006-05-11T21:38:00.000-07:00

We think Kenny Benny is going to be a swimmer just like Kevin. She loves the water and actually pours the water over herself! By the way, did you notice what I called her? We didn't want to call her "Kenny", but it just happened. So, Kenny Benny, or Kenna Benna it is! She totally acts older than 1. She sounds like she is talking - Dada, Momma, please, thank you. She is a chatterbox and doesn't quit. In the car, in the stroller, walking around the house, while shopping. Always saying something! And those smiles. She knows the smiles get attention, and so she instantly has one - for family and strangers alike - if she knows you will pay attention to her.

Is It Really that Cold Kyle?

2006-05-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

I had to giggle and grab the camera when Kyle walked into my office dressed like this. Isn't that hat hilarious! It is Kaela's hat that Grandma Fischer sent a couple of Christmases ago. Come to think of it, the slippers are Kaela's old slippers too! He was so pleased that he made Mommy laugh. He liked that he was "all dressed up" and so he wanted to actually pose for the picture. Ain't he cute???

Kaela's First Scrapbook

2006-05-11T21:31:00.000-07:00

Kaela's an official scrapper. I'm so proud! *sniffle* She got this scrapbooking kit from Auntie Maria and Ellie and Colin for her birthday. She works in it all the time and has made pages for me, Keith and her sibs. She is so cute when she works on it. She is SO proud of herself and loves to show off her work. I was going to help her with it, but she had her own ideas. I took a deep breath and let her go for it. I am glad I did.

Kevin and Me at the Strawberry Field

2006-05-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

With Ris' help, I was lucky enough to be a parent helper when Kevin's class went to the farm to pick strawberries. It was really a fun time. We took a tractor ride and got to sample all kinds of fresh just picked veggies. It was an organic farm, so anything that we didn't consume, we just threw overboard! I didn't realize how different fresh veggies tasted from store bought stuff. We picked a quart of strawberries, but I think we all ate more than that while we picked! It was SO yummy!

Oh Where Oh Where did April Go?????

2006-05-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

My gosh! Well, since SO many people have asked if I have updated my blog - including Keith! - I have finally decided to just sit down and do it. I am on the computer all the time, but have for some odd reason (which I can't explain) I have neglected my blog! So, let's see if I can highlight the main points since my last brief update.

I am going to the Stampin' Up! convention in July. YIPPEE!
McKenna is walking.
We went to Washington on spring break and spent Easter with Mom, Karensa, Paul, Grandma, Aunt Joyce and Uncle Orv.
We saw Dad and Mary on the way home.
I turned 36! And my baby sister turned 31!
Michaela is starting to write her name.
We are still not unpacked from moving.
Did I mention I was going to Convention????
Kevin has met with the speech therapist, and she has consulted with me. She does not think that Kevin should be placed in a program for his stuttering because she doesn't think that he has a problem. She wants to wait to see if it becomes a constant thing instead of the on and off stuttering that he has had. She is hoping (which frequently happens) that it will just disappear.
Kyle is saying all kinds of words and I am convinced that he is going to be the funny guy at school that everyone likes.

I think that is most of it for now. I will try to be more consistent with the blog. Bye for now!

Albums are Updated

2006-04-05T01:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a chance to write about the kids' birthdays. But, I will!

Until then, I have updated the kids' photo albums. Click the links on the left to see.

A New Picture

2006-04-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture to keep you occupied until I have time to write about the kids' birthday parties. I will also be posting new photos in their photo albums (see left side of blog). Until then, enjoy the picture!

rubberstampads.com

2006-03-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

I placed a link to my demonstrator website on rubberstampads.com. It is my picture at the very bottom of the page. Look for it. It is a small 40X40 pixel picture. If you click on it, it'll take you to my demo site. I have a special going on right now that if you place an order with me and say that you saw my ad on rubberstampads.com, you get $5 in additional merchandise with any purchase over $25.

My ad has gotten a number of hits and has (it was earlier today anyway) landed me in the top 20 sites. I guess people click on it as opposed to the other ads because they are thinking, "Who the heck is weird enough to post their picture here?"

Check it out rubberstampads.com and give me a click!

Sick As Can Be

2006-03-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Well, Kyle is no longer sick, but now Kevin and Kaela are sick, and I am too. Kenna has a runny nose, but that is it. Keith keeps saying he is fine, but coughs once in a while. Kaela has had a fever on and off for the past three days. Kevin came home from school feeling sick and didn't go today. I have had achey joints and congestion for two days.

So, since we are all sick and burned out, we decided not to do to Disneyland for Kaela's birthday. She took the news rather well. Which actually was no surprise. She (they all are actually) was very understanding.

Kaela did get to celebrate her birthday at school yesterday. She brought cupcakes that we had decorated with Strawberry Shortcake cupcake toppers and sugar sprinkles. We are going to have dinner (she has requested pizza) and cake on Saturday. We, of course, have Disney Princess plates and napkins to help celebrate.

I got some really cute dessert plates and napkins for Kenna's first birthday party. I didn't go overboard with the whole theme going. I just bought the plates and napkins and then got generic stuff to match. Going to party stores makes it hard not to go wild with the decor. Everything is so cute!

Kevin has requested Chuck E. Cheese for his birthday party. He was been wanting to go so badly. We keep saying that we will take him, but since it is his birthday, I guess there is no getting around it. Not that Chuck E. Cheese is a bad place. It is just hard to corral all the kids there. It can get pretty hectic (an understatement).

I'll update you on Kaela's birthday in a few days. Bye!

Just a Side Note

2006-03-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday when we walked to the park, a huge bird with a red head flew overhead. It was fling fairly low. I would guess flying above about three stories up. It was the biggest bird I had ever seen "in the wild". Well, with a little internet searching, I am about 95% sure that this is what we saw. It is a turkey vulture. Since it is a vulture, it was gross to read about what it ate, but looking at it soaring above us was pretty impressive.

Sorry No Pictures

2006-03-19T23:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I have posted a new picture. Kevin was asking why he didn't have a new picture up recently. We are still unpacking and I am not even sure where our camera is! I want to take some new pictures.

Unpacking is going slowly but surely. I am doing the best I can with having to just try to do our everyday things as well as find things. Keith helped by watching the kids the entire weekend - which is what he usually does. But, it especially helped this weekend in that I was able to get most of my stamping stuff put away (which means I can start stamping again!). Keith set up his desk and computer stuff on the opposite wall from my desk. We have our office looking pretty nice. It is a blue room - just like the other place.

Aside from the blue room, I was also able to start on the kids' master suite. Did I mention that we decided to put the kids in the master bedroom? They have their own walk in closet for their toys and a whole other closet just for their clothes. Kevin and Kyle are in the bunk bed and Kaela's bed is clear on the other side of the room. There is enough room left over that if we wanted to, we could put our king sized bed in there and still have room to move around with no problem. They have their own bathroom, and it is over the garage so they can be as rowdy as they like and not disturb Mr. Grumpy Bottom Floor Neighbor. There is a huge built in dresser that runs the length of the window (about one and a half times longer than Kaela's twin bed). We are setting up a TV in the kids room - a first for us. We will hook up cable without the receiver to give them access to PBS. We are also going to give up our DVD/VHS combo so that they can watch in their room.

Friday night I went out by myself. The kids and the unpacking were really tough for me last week. I was able to go to the bookstore and get myself a book and a couple of scrapbooking magazines. I am reading "The Time Traveler's Wife". After the bookstore, I went and had dinner and read while I waited and ultimately while I ate. It was fun to get absorbed in the book and to block out all the people looking at the woman sitting all by herself in a crowded restaurant on a Friday night. I would have much rather been with Keith at the restaurant than have my nose in a book, but I really needed to get out. And well, we can't afford a babysitter. It would cost us about $100 just to walk out the door for a nice evening together. Since when do babysitters charge $20 an hour???

Oh well. Sorry again about no new pictures. I will find the camera soon! Good night. Thanks for reading.

Oh. Just quick updates on the kids. Kevin is enrolled in an after school physics class. He learned about force last class. He is the youngest in that class and is really enjoying it. We have decided to take Kaela to Disneyland for her birthday. We are taking Kevin and Kaela, and Ris and Dad are going to watch Kyle and Kenna that day. I think Kyle is sick with Mono again. No fever yet, but he is just grumpy and not sleeping well. I will look at his throat tomorrow. Kenna is eating like there is no tomorrow. That girl eats and eats. Can you believe she is going to be one in less than two weeks?

Okay. Good night again!

Start At The Bottom

2006-03-14T21:36:00.000-08:00

of today's entries. They are posted with the latest entry first, so look for the first entry for today and then read going up instead of down. BTW, did you notice we are at 3,000 hits (over that by the time you read this). Enjoy the update!

What's Up With Us?

2006-03-14T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well, you've read about the move and the place, so let me update you on us.

Kevin. He has a jog-a-than next Tuesday. He says he is going to run 90 laps. We shall see! lol I am not sure how long a lap is. So, if anyone wants to pledge a per-lap or flat donation. Let me know. If you haven't heard from me yet - you will!

We had another parent teacher conference today. His teacher said some really good things about Kevin, and she is happy with his progress. When he started kindergarten, he didn't know many letters (only V and K) and couldn't count very high (only to 12). He didn't have fine motor skills with holding his pencil. But, she says his counting is great (can count past 100 and can also count by 5s and 10s). He can recognize all the letters and can sound them out. He is even trying to read. His writing skills have improved greatly. It was a great review.

Michaela. This social butterfly has been to two non-relative birthday party. She, of course, wanted to have a birthday party too but we decided not to have one for her or Kevin. Kenna will be the only one having a party - since she is turning one. Michaela is really loving school and is learning a lot from it (and Kevin). She is already recognizing letters and is starting to learn to write. Next school year I am planning on putting her into the older kids class and move her to three days a week. She is still as girlie as ever and oh so cute!

Kyle. He is in that awkward stage when they say a lot of words, but still can't communicate exactly what they want. As a result, he is a whiner. The same as the rest of the kids. He will just break down and cry without even trying to communicate first. Oh the joys. We went to the nearby park yesterday and he totally biffed it on the merry-go-round. He decided that he didn't really like being on it and decided to just jump off without trying to have someone stop it first. Well, you get the picture. Metal playground merry-go-round spinning at top speed. Little 2 1/2 year old jumping off. Not a pretty sight. He's play though. He preferred to hold on to the out side and run to make the thing go round. Well, again. 2 1/2 year old without the sense to let go when the thing started going to fast. Not a pretty picture. Nonetheless, he had fun.

McKenna. Okay. Our little female version of Kyle. She is going to be a trouble maker. AND, I know she can walk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her walking. When I turned to look at her, she dropped to the floor. Another time, I turned the corner into the hallway. There she is standing in the middle of the hallway, no where near anything that would help her get up into a standing position. She sees me and drops to the floor. I swear she is repeating words that we are saying. Sometimes clear as day. But, when I try to get her to say something, she just babbles. I think she is more advanced then she is leading us to believe.

Keith. He got a nice raise and a great employee evaluation. He got a raise higher than the usual and it was initiated by "the big boss". The guy he works with thinks that Keith is probably the best in the country when it comes to what they do. Keith is really enjoying work.

Me. Well, just busy with the move. Trying to get back into a routine. We got a new washer and dryer that just got delivered and installed today. Ris let us use one of her cards. Thanks Ris! She was also here today to receive them while Keith and I were at the conference.

Well, I guess that's it in a nutshell. I can't think of anything major that I may have missed. Good night.

This Move Has Been Rough

2006-03-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well, after being here a week, we have found that our new place has a few annoying "flaws". Now, it just may be that we are comparing this place to our last. We moved into our last place sight unseen and we got really really lucky. It was a totally remodeled end unit townhome. Of course there were some "flaws" there also, but with us being here only a week, it is a bit disheartening. Okay so, here goes my rant...

Getting various services. Well, this isn't really a problem with the house, but getting services here has been a not so smooth thing. DSL service was delayed as is TV. I had previously written about the fiasco with the satellite. Well, we opted for cable and that hasn't gone all that smoothly. Let's just say that I am not too happy that I have had to miss most of my favorite shows two episodes in a row. Telephone service was fairly smooth although we ended up losing most of our additional features for a few days. Mail and newspaper service have gone smoothly as has gas, water and electric - so far.

Cold. This place is freezing! So, it has been a bit cold here in SoCal. We have had snow in the nearby foothills. But, holy moly it's cold here! We have had to put on slippers and sweatshirts and turn on the heater. We are an upper unit. You'd think that we'd be warmer (the whole heat rises thing).

Along with cold. It takes FOREVER for the water in the kitchen to heat up. It feels like frigid Washington water during the winter.

Okay, the biggest problem. The downstairs neighbor. A nice guy, but complains about the noise. We have hardwood floors. Apparently he's had noise issues with every tenant that has lived here including the owner of this place when she lived here. I have tried to keep the kids from runningor jumping in the house, but this four kids under six, how the heck are they supposed to stay quiet? Well, he has started pounding on the ceiling/floor. Well, I talked to him about it and told him that we are trying to be quiet and this is quiet for us. Even just walking around can trigger a knock from downstairs. Well, I have notified the landlord and she has notified the HOA. Supposedly this guy can be evicted from his place (he is a renter too) if he continues to "harass" us about the noise.

Well, okay, enough ranting. I shall start a new post and put in some nicer stuff.