I Belong In...

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....

Keith

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

Kevin

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

Michaela

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

Kyle

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

McKenna

1. She commands attention when she is in the room.
2. When she is around other 2 year olds at the park, she seems much more sophisticated socially and developmentally.
3. She thinks she is five.
4. She is a troublemaker (yes, I love that about her!).
5. 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

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

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

My April Fools

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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!!!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!