rubberstampads.com

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

Our DSL is FINALLY Working

No thanks to SBC. Jerks. I was told that because of a glitch, we would not have DSL until the 27th. Well, I called today to see if the status had changed and the customer service rep told me that it had been "turned on" since the 7th. So, there was a problem with getting the ISP to connect, but after Keith got on the phone with tech support, it got squared away. So, just goes to show that you shouldn't necessarily believe what you're told the first, or even the second time. It may be wrong.

We're Finally in Our New Place

So, we are finally in our new place. I turned the keys in for our old place today. The move wasn't so bad. Keith ended up doing a lot of the packing and moving. Julie and Mike helped us move, as well as, Mike and Scott, Julie's Dad's Wife's son and grandson. We got the standard UHaul and Julie and I packed up most of the remaining stuff while the guys hauled it away.

The move went well, but transferring the services ended up being a big pain in the you know what. We canned our satellite dish because it was just a hassle to get the dish installed because of all the rules for this place. DirecTV also ended up screwing up our order. It delayed us almost four hours from picking the kids up at Mom and Dad's (who, along with Ris, watched the kids Saturday and Sunday night). Also, SBC screwed up. We have our phone service, but our DSL line is not available until the 27th of March! I was finally able to connect today (courtesy of a neighbor's unsecured signal). I had a TON of e-mail.

So, I just wanted to quickly update you. Hopefully I can get this place all fixed up in the next week or so! Bye for now!

Silly Hat Day

Kaela's preschool class had a silly hat day parade in honor of Dr. Suess' birthday. They each decorated a hat and brought it to school. Kaela opted for a huge hydrangea and five different kinds of ribbon all over her cap. She designed it herself and I helped her put it together. It was such a cute parade. They all lined up and marched around the basketball court.

Crunch Time

Okay, I guess this is no news to all of you that know me, but I have been procrastinating with the packing. I have done *some* stuff. Keith is starting to worry. Why do I do this? It does eventually get done and done by when it needs to be done, but I then have to work my tail off. So, it is Wednesday today, and we are going to start moving little things over on Saturday. We were originally going to start moving on Sunday, but the prior tenants were able to get into their new place sooner than expected which in turn moves us in sooner. So, I actually lose a day of packing here if we start moving things over on Saturday. Hmmm. Maybe I should get off this computer and start throwing things into boxes.... Bye!

Her First Steps

Today I brought the kids to Mom and Dad's so that I could go to my client's office. When I get back, Mom tells me that Kenna took two steps towards Grandpa! Well, I have been trying to get Kenna to walk for more than a week now. She is at Grandma and Grandpa's only a few hours, and they get her to take two steps?!? Geez.

So, of course when we get home, I try to coax her to walk. Well, finally as we were getting her ready for bed, she took a few steps towards me. She did it quite a few times. The most number of steps she took without falling was 5. She is on her way!

Are We Going to Have Another Baby?

"Are we going to have another baby?" Kevin asks us at lunch yesterday.

Keith and I look at each other, "Why?" I ask him.

"Because we are moving. When we moved here, we had McKenna," he replies straight-faced.

Hmmm. That is such a good observation on Kevin's part. Keith and I had joked about us having another baby because it seems as though whenever we move into a new place, we have a new baby. Well, when we joked about this, we don't recall Kevin being there.

I didn't even know I was pregnant with McKenna, but Kevin did. Here was that conversation about a year and a half ago:

"Mom, you're getting fatter. I think you are going to have a baby," Kevin said - once again straight-faced.

I reply, "No Kevin, I am just getting fatter."

Two weeks later - a positive pregnancy test.

So, is there something that Kevin knows??? So, what do you think?

Date Night

It's been a long time since Keith and I have been on a nice date. We went out to dinner last month, but it just didn't seem like a date to me. But last night was nice. Typical but nice.

Instead of wearing my normal jeans and sweater, I decided at the last minute to dress up. I actually wore a nice blouse and my nice black pants. I think the last time I really dressed up was for Christmas and I can't quite remember when it was before that!

We went to dinner at Pei Wei, a nice Asian Diner which we has fast become our favorite dining place. It is a family restaurant, but we do find it to be too expensive for the kids. So, we don't take them there. I guess it's good to have a restaurant or two where the kids aren't allowed.

After dinner, we went to the mall and walked around, of course ending up at the book strore. We went our separate ways. Keith to the computer section and I to the craft section. Neither one of us bought anything though.

After the bookstore, it was off to the movies. We hadn't been to the movies since before Christmas and were sorry to see that the prices had gone up to $10 a ticket. It wasn't that just before Christmas! I still remember in high school going to Tuesday $1 nights. Oh well, maybe by the time the kids get to high school tickets will be $20 and the "bargain" will be $10.

The movie didn't start for another hour and a half, so we went to Cheesecake Factory for dessert. The wait was long, and the coffee was crappy ($2.50 for a small cup that wasn't even worth refilling), but we enjoy the cheesecake.

We saw Firewall. It was entertaining enough. They did lay it on a bit thick the Harrison Ford is an older guy now, so in his fight scenes, he got hurt pretty bad and even had a few blunders in the movie - tripping in the forest, knocking into a chair as he jumped - those kind of things that would never have happened in Clear and Present Danger or any of the other "superhero" movies he's been in. Overall though, still an enjoyable actor to watch.

When all was said and done, it was 1:00am. We got home just after 1. We hadn't been out that late in a long time. So, thanks to Ris for watching the kids!

We had a nice typical date night. But, I would like to say that after all these years and all these kids, there is still no one that I would rather be with and spend quiet special moments with than Keith. Aren't I lucky?

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was really nice this year. It was a busy day, but we all had a lot of fun. We took this picture right before our 2nd annual Valentine's dinner. A bit of our heads is cut off, but we still liked this picture the best. You know of course that I took more than one. lol

Kevin and Kaela both celebrated Valentine's Day at school. They both received tons of cards and a lot of candy. While I waited to pick up Kevin from school another mom and I were commenting about how our kids seemed as excited about Valentine's Day as they were about Christmas. Although the holidays have been so commercialized, I guess it's not such a bad thing when kids can have some good memories.

Ris came and watched Kevin, Kyle and Kenna so that I could take Kaela to her classmate's birthday party. It was her first non-relative party. It was at McDonald's. There was a really huge play area that went up about two stories. Well, I don't bring my four kids to theses places often because I can't watch all four by myself. So, Kaela doesn't have that much experience in these things. Well, she decided to climb all the way to the top. When she got up there, she took one look down (it was a series of platforms surrounded by netting) and freaked out. Of course she was at the very top (seven platforms up). Well, she would not come down, do here I am climbing throught his gigantic McDonald's plaything to rescue her - mind you, this is in front of almost ever mother in her preschool class. I made it up there, trying to look as graceful as possible, to find Kaela surrounded by five of her classmates. It was so cute. They were telling her that she would be okay and that they would keep her safe if she wanted to stay up there. She opted to come down with me though. The rest of the time she stayed near the bottom. She still ended up having a really nice time.

After we got home, I got read to make dinner. We had steaks, salmon, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and spiral pasta. I lit candles and put out the rose centerpiece I made last year. The kids got to drink red "berry" juice in clear glass mugs. After we ate (which was yummy btw), the kids opened up their goodies from the grandparents. They got lots of fun little things. Then to close out the evening, we loaded into the car and headed to Baskin Robbins. We all had ice cream. Kevin got his usual "wild -n- reckless" - a green, blue, purple, white, swirled sherbet thing. Kaela got chocolate chip and Kyle chose mint chocolate chip. Keith and I got our usuals. It was a fun little outing.

Ten Months Old

Well, Kenna is now ten months old. I can't believe how fast it has gone. Her top two teeth are out now. You can see a bit of her right tooth in this picture. She is wearing her ballerina onesie from her Godmother Tina. This was her monthly picture with her bear. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Ain't she cute???

We Have a Place to Live

Yeah! Such a relief for me. It is stressful trying to have to find a place to live. We signed the papers last night. We are scheduled to move in March 1st. We have to be out of here by March 9th. The lease runs through the end of June 2007. So, I don't have to worry about having to move again until the end of next school year. That was our biggest concern; that we would have to move Kevin with only a few more months in the school year.

Now, on to more stress of having to actually move. We have to move all our utilities and change our mailing address and all the other pains of moving. But, I have lived in a countless apartments and places for the last 15 years. My gosh! This new place will be the 13th place for me, if you count the moves back and forth from WA to CA separately. I think Keith moved around a bit before we married, but I don't know the specifics.

Kenna turns 10 months today. I shall take and post some pictures. Good bye for now.

House Hunting

So, the house has sold and we have 60 days to vacate. That'll put us at March 30. Well, I think we may have found a place. We are meeting with the potential landlord today. I never really thought it would make a difference one way or the other, but I will finally admit that not owning your own house can be a real bummer. I have a ton of packing and purging to do. We have a ton of stuff.

But, one thing I do get to look forward to is at the stroke of midnight Utah time (so really 11pm) here, I get to preorder some SU! stuff. The new Spring mini catalog has a lot of really cute stuff. I am being good though. I am only going to preorder one set. Well, and two huge monogram stamps. But, since they are single letters, I don't really "say" they are sets. I guess it makes me feel better moneywise!

Kaela got invited to her first nonrelative birthday party. It will be on Valentine's day. Ris is going to come up to babysit while I take Kaela to the party.

Kenna's top two teeth are finally poking though. She doesn't seem to notice that they are coming out. You should see these things. They are huge! lol I will post a picture soon. Maybe tomorrow when she turns ten months! Ten! Can you believe that?

Kevin seems to be getting in all kinds of accidents. He skinned his knee at school today. He said he ran into the wall. Well, we wasn't even running he said. He sort of just collided with it. Yesterday, I went to take Kevin to school and so I loaded up the car and we all headed over. We parking in the yellow zone and I thought it odd that there weren't any cars in the parking lot. Hmmm. 2 minutes til school starts. Where is everyone? DUH! No school today. Well, Kevin had wanted me to just drop him off and drive away - which I had never done before. He is only five! Good thing I didn't do what he asked. Could you imagine how freaked out he would have been?

Kyle is saying all kinds of words these days, but he seems to be getting on the other kid's nerves a lot more. Karensa and Paul can tell you that Kyle is my handful. But, thank goodness my handful isn't as big a handful as some!

Karensa and Paul are gone now. Paul left Sunday and Karensa left Monday. It was a nice visit even though they got sick! My kids are generally healthy, and hardly sick, but they all have runny noses which I think may have been spread to Karensa and Paul.

Keith is going to be busy at work this week. He has a load test to run and has a big presentation on Thursday. He is going into the office late on Wednesday and Thursday because he is going to be coming home late to run the tests. Hopefully not too stressful for him (or me!).

As for, me, well, I shall be anxiously awaiting my new stamps. I have a ton of swaps to do. I'll be happily stamping!

Watching the Ducks

Watching the Ducks

At The Beach

At the Beach

Today in Carlsbad. Keith and the kids after the kids walked on the beach with Karensa and Paul.