PSF - Swearing In!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Today we attended my husbands swearing in ceremony.

To say we are all extremely proud of him would be an understatement.

You are now where you are supposed to be!

Congratulations my dear.

We love you.

A Mommy Moment!

This video is of my cousins baby rolling over for the first time.  Now why would I be posting such a video, well it is because my cousins reaction to her daughter rolling over for the first time is absolutely priceless! 

I know all of you who have kids can totally relate to how exciting it was/is when your baby reaches a new milestone.  

So Sarah, don't think you sound crazy.......you sound like a mommy that is totally in love with her little girl!  

They say it's your birthday(s)!

This morning when I woke up the first thing I did was wish Jim a Happy Birthday!  After a thank you he looked at me and said, "It's official, we no longer know anything."  Why is that you ask?  Well, it is because we are officially parents of a teenager!!

It's hard to believe that 13 years ago today we celebrated Jim' birthday in the maternity ward of the hospital.  That day he received the one birthday present he will never be able to re gift!

Reid had a pretty rough start to her life.  First was the really bad case of jaundice that required us to travel daily to the hospital for heal sticks.  To help move the billirubin out of her system she had to sleep with these special lights wrapped around her tiny mid section.  

Breastfeeding didn't start off well either.   At 12 days old, just as things were starting to improve, she developed an serious infection that landed us in Children's hospital for 3 days.  After the hospital stay Reid had to endure 10 days of antibiotic injections that we so painful that she had to receive an injection of a pain killer first.  She still has a divot in her thigh from all those shots!  

Thank God we all made it through this tough time and now she is a lovely 13 year old young lady.  I'll spare you all the mushy stuff, because if you are parents you know how I feel about my daughter!!  

So how about that scrapbook page??  

My scrapbooking style has changed a little since I started twelve years ago. 

As you can see by my handwritten note, the close up picture of Reid at one month is one of my favorite pictures of her as an infant.  There isn't anything more peaceful than the face of a sleeping baby!  The rest of the pictures of her at this age she looked more like a 90 year old woman than a cute little infant!

The last picture is of Reid on her 2nd birthday.  She had the most awesome ringlet curls until she was 5.  Her hair is still curly, but not like when she was little.  Of course these days you would only know that her hair was curly if you are with her when the fog rolls in and causes the true nature of her hair to spring to life.

So Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and my equally wonderful daughter!

Thanks for stopping by!!

3 Goals = 1 Horse

Ever since we got back from our summer vacation at Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch Reid has been begging us to buy her a horse.  So using an old joke from last season (her teammate was going to get a turtle if she scored 3 goals in one game) we told Reid that if she scored 3 goals in one game that we would buy her a horse.  Now before you think we are totally crazy know that if we were telling her this in an email the statement would have been followed with a hearty LOL!

Well, much to our horror (and delight) she scored two goals in the first half.  If it wasn't for her coach putting her in as goalie the second half of the game we may have been faced with an almost 13 year old wondering when her new horse would be arriving.  :)

My toothless wonder!

We have had the tooth fairy on speed dial this past week and a half.  I don't know what it is about Kate's baby teeth, but when they decide to fall out they do it as a group. When she lost her two front baby teeth (top and bottom) I swear all four fell out in one week.  Now she has four loose, with two out she has two more to go.

Let me tell you, this current tooth fairy has been a little neglectful with child number two!  Kate has had to endure many a disappointing morning when she wakes up and finds her tooth is still firmly planted under her pillow.  She has gotten so used to it that she no longer even mentions it when the tooth fairy doesn't show up.  

Last week after the tooth fairy failed to show up two nights in a row I told Kate that the tooth fairy must be really busy and she should probably leave her a note (like she has had to do many times before).  When I walked in from the garage I found her note on the white board and it read, "Tooth Fairy.....I am ready......please come!"  It melted my heart.

I guess the tooth fairy learned her lesson.......well sort of, at 11:45 in the evening I heard the tooth fairy fly in and stuff $2.00 worth of quarters into Kate's tooth fairy pillow.  It's about time she showed up!!!!

Oh, I can't help but to think of Amy Winehouse when Kate grins will all her missing teeth!  Snort!

Crazy Dayz have begun!

People always think I'm crazy when I say that I am not totally looking forward to the girls going back to school.  Here is why........

Today's schedule:

8:00 to 9:45 - Lead 5th grade fundraiser meeting.

10:00 to 12:00 - Hair appointment (actually fun because I sit and chat with BFF).

12:05 to 12:35 - Grocery store run.

12:40 to 1:35 - Put groceries away then run down to Costco.

1:35 - Quickly put groceries away and eat lunch.

1:50 to 2:40 - rush to school to supervise Safety Patrol, spend extra time chatting with a friend about the script we need to write for the school play!

3:00 to 4:00 - Get stuff ready for tomorrows 8 am craft fair meeting (I'm the chairperson) and help Kate with homework.

4:05 to 4:35 - Pick up girls up at middle school, run into another friend to chat with then stop at Jamba Juice on way home.

5:00 to 6:15 - Sit, relax, chat and watch soccer practice for Kate, send Reid with a friend to her practice.

6:20 to 7:00 - Make dinner, pick up the house and do dishes.

7:30 to 8:30 - Eat dinner, quiz Reid on State abbreviations, listen to her a speech in spanish, quiz Kate on spelling words.

8:35 - Read email.......update blog!

And that is why I wish summer was just a little bit longer.  

First Day Of School!

Well, we all got up on time, ate breakfast, ironed clothes, made lunches, packed up school supplies and made it out the door on time for the girls first day of school.

No one seemed particularly nervous this morning.  But I guess when you are both at the top of the heap at your school (5th grader and 8th grader) there is so much familiarity that there really isn't anything to be nervous about.

As always I got out my camera to snap the first  
day of school pictures.  Silly me snapped away without first checking to see if I had the camera set to the correct exposure.  O'well, either I take them again or do my best to correct them in Photoshop (elements).  I keep thinking I really need to get the real Photoshop.  Whenever you see awesome photo's they are almost always the result of Photoshop touch ups.  I think I need perfectly beautiful pictures.  Too bad the program cost so much!!

Last Day of Summer Vacation!

Sad but true, today is the last day of our summer vacation.  

Tomorrow we all have to go back to being on a schedule.  As much as I love being on a schedule, I also love the freedom that summer brings.

My worries that the girls would spend the entire summer bickering with each other were not realized. 

Instead we had an incredible family vacation, spent time at the beach, played with friends, read lots of books, did some crafting/scrapbooking, enjoyed free concerts at the park, spent time with my family and perfected the art of relaxing.  

All in all it was a good three months!  I'm off to make sure I have completely filled out all of the back to school paperwork and check that the girls have everything they need for their first day of school.  Gotta take care of that now because the girls and I are going to feel like zombies at 6:30 tomorrow morning!

Thanks for stopping by,

~Michelle

Baby Sydney!

My cousin Sarah came down for a visit and she

brought her 11 week old daughter Sydney and her 

personal diaper changer, Aunt Nancy along for the ride. 

I took a ton of photo's and wanted to share a few of my favorites!  

Here are my girls and my nephew posing with Syd!!  

Hmm, if Sarah is my first cousin, then Syd would be my 

second cousin, making our kids third cousins???  Too confusing!!!

Sarah and Sydney!  

Baby bubbles!

Smiling at her mama!

And last, the baby yawn.  

Is there anything sweeter than a babies yawn?  

Thank you Sarah for braving your first plane ride with a newborn

so that we could all ohh and goo over your perfect little girl.

16th Wedding Anniversary!

Sixteen years ago Jim and I said our "I do's" to each other at the Thursday Club in Ocean Beach, California in front of our friends and family.  

The day was extremely hot, we were totally nervous, the company was great and the food was excellent (not that I actually ate anything). 

This is where most people would probably say something totally sweet and sentimental about what a great ride it has been so far, or how they married the most terrific man around (which I did) but that is too sappy for me.  Instead I am going to make fun of our wedding photo's.

Like Jim and I, the vast majority of our friends were married in the late 80's or early 90's.  I love looking at their wedding photo's because almost everyone had rockin' big hair (perms were big), a funky mustache (think Magnum PI) and  a wedding dress with a big goofy bow attached to their butt (can you see a glimpse of mine?).  The veil usually involved fake flowers and a puff so big it would make anyone look a bit like a Vegas show girl.  

My hair was almost down to the middle of my back at the time and I wanted it up in a french twist.  My hairdresser was a miracle worker to get all that hair twisted up and secured into place.  That twist must have stuck out a good 4 inches from my scalp.  And the bobby pins holding it in place.....I think it took me two hours to remove all of them.

My dress.....what can I say, I was skinny as a stick and the Mermaid style seemed like a perfect compliment to my ahhhh, figure.  I actually had my wedding dress made for me.  My mom and I searched the patterns in the Fabric store until I found the beauty that I am wearing.  It didn't matter to me that our wedding took place in the middle of the day on a Sunday, I wanted a mermaid style dress, complete with beading, lace, sequins and long sleeves.  

My favorite pictures from our wedding have to be the cake eating shots.  Jim was so sweet when he fed me my piece of wedding cake.  He put a little dab of icing on my nose before popping the cake into my mouth.  

I on the other hand was not so sweet and chose to shove the cake in Jim's face.  How was I to know that in an attempt to dodge a face full of cake he would lean back and the cake would go up his nose?  

The shot of him shooting cake out of his nose is classic!  The only reason he didn't shove cake in my face was because I warned him not to get my precious dress dirty!  Who knew that my dress would end up sitting in my moms closet for about 10 years without even being washed.  When she finally made me take it I actually threw it in the tub and washed the foot prints off the train and then shoved it into a box!  An archival staff box!

I don't know why I bothered with the expensive box because no daughter of mine is ever going to be caught dead in my old dress.  

Except maybe for a scrapbook page, or as a Halloween costume.  Old wedding dress's come in handy when you want to be the bride of Frankenstein.  Just ask my mom!

Happy 16th Anniversary honey.  Here is to 16 more!

Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch

Here is a shot of the picturesque Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch where we spent a very fun week of our summer vacation.  

Check in at the Ranch was at 11:00 on Saturday with our first ride of the day heading out at 2:30.  Looking at a 12 hour drive to the Ranch and not wanting to miss anything on Saturday, we headed out Friday morning and stopped a couple of hours from the Ranch in Carson City, Nevada.  

Jim booked us in the first motel that came up in his Google search (aka: not always the best idea).  When we pulled into the motel parking lot we both looked a little concerned.  You see the Motel 6 that was next door looked really nice compared to the Motel we were about to check into.  

Since we were only staying over night we decided to risk it and check in to the nasty place. When we walking into our room the odd odor and the feeling that Norman Bates was going to knock at the door any minute and ask if we needed anything caused us to change our mind and look for a new place to stay!!  

Fortunately, we only had to drive a few miles down the main road where there were a ton of quality motels to chose from. 

On Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed for the Ranch!  We were all excited to start our new adventure!

When we arrived a the Ranch our first impression was how beautiful and quaint the place was. The employees were so kind and we could tell right away that everyone who worked at the Ranch was going to work their hardest to make our stay a pleasant one.  

After checking in the girls headed straight for the pond and the stack of fishing poles waiting to be used.  With in a few minutes of casting off Reid caught a 19 inch Trout that would end up winning her first place in the Fishing derby.  

After a half an hour of fishing we all headed over for a safety meeting.  After the meeting we were told to fill up our water bottles and head over to the stables so that we could be paired up with a horse.  We all lined up and as our turns came up everyone proclaimed their riding abilities and comfort level with horses.  

When my turn arrived I told the Wrangler's that I wast totally new to horse riding and really nervous about riding.  As one of the Wranglers brought over this white speckled horse she proclaimed Dapple to be the most favorite horse in the group.  Not only was he a favorite with the wranglers, but he was also a favorite with the horses.  Apparently he was a comedian!! 

I discovered how funny he was when he tricked the Wranglers into believing his saddle was cinched tight.  Yeah, it was a regular laugh fest when Dapple and I were trotting in the arena and the saddle slipped off to the side, with me still in it!

I'm pretty sure that Dapple was laughing at me as I laid in the nasty arena dirt staring up at his belly (which was now holding my upside down saddle).

Needless to say, falling off Dapple made me a little hesitant to try the more advance rides (not to mention it tweaked my back a little bit) so I stuck with the walk rides.  I absolutely adored the 23 year old Wrangler Natalie who took us out on all of our trail rides.  

She took us through the tree's, down into canyons, up to the peak, and along the creek bed.  The rides were both beautiful, challenging and exciting.  I was lucky and always managed to be right behind Natalie so the two of us had a great time chatting during our morning and afternoon rides (not to mention I ate less dust). 

When we weren't riding there was so much to do.  There was fishing, swimming, volleyball games, a softball game, frog jumping contest and in the evening they had karaoke, dancing and a couple of campfire sing a longs.  

The biggest event of the week was the guest rodeo, which the girls and Jim all participated in.  They all won various ribbons for their efforts and I was really impressed to see how well they all handled their horses.  

Kate spent her week riding with the "Outlaws."  They were the kids 6 to 11 and they were all taught how to ride on the trail.  By the end of the first full day of riding Kate was already loping. The outlaws chant, "Who are we......The Outlaws!  How do we ride?  Like we stole 'em." Her Wrangler was Amanda, a young college student who was so much fun and a great teacher.

Adults had to pass a lope test to be able to go on the advanced ride and Jim had a horse that wouldn't lope for him.  So the following day they got him a new horse that would lope.  During the morning lope test the arena dirt was really muddy in spots.  Jim's new horse, Jingles, didn't want to walk through the mud so instead it jumped/bucked his way over it.  

All of the Wranglers were yelling, "Ride 'em Cowboy" when Jingles started bucking.  Jim passed the lope test and was able to fulfill his need for speed on the advanced rides.  Reid stuck to the intermediate rides and had an awesome time trotting through the trees.  So the only time we all rode together was on the early morning ride out into the forest for breakfast.  

Speaking of food......it was so nice having someone cook us three meals a day.  The food was really good and I thought for sure I would gain 10 pounds while I was there.  But they kept us so busy that I didn't gain an ounce......in fact I lost a few!!!  Each night I fell into bed exhausted and happy!

The whole vacation felt like summer camp for families.  We met so many nice families and enjoyed their company through out the week.   Kate made friends with two girls, one from the LA area and one from Germany.  

Reid made friends with a girl, named Katie that was just a couple of weeks older than her.  By the end of the week Reid the two were sharing each other's clothes and were attached at the hip!  I also spent a lot of time with Katie's mom Vicki and another mom named Durrel.  

The staff was also a lot of fun.  Most of the Wranglers ate meals with us and spent time hanging around in the evening.  They made us all feel like family which made it all that much harder to go home!  

The last evening after they gave out the awards for the rodeo and the fishing derby the Wranglers got up and gave awards to each and every guest.  You see, they pay attention to all of us during the week and find something about our stay to award us for.  

Amanda gave Kate the award for most improved cowgirl and gave Reid the "It not mine, I swear it" award for claiming that the beer in front of her wasn't hers.  I got the "I'd like to try that" award from Natalie for admitting that loping looked like fun.  

Jim was saved for the last four guest who got the most special awards given out.  Jim received the Cowboy of the week award (and a golden horseshoe).  Marty, the head wrangler, said some really nice things about Jim and we were all proud of him for standing out among the other guest.  It was pretty darn cool!  

As Reid would say, going to the ranch was a pretty "sweet" vacation and something that all of us will remember for a long long time!

A Day at the Beach

Mom and I took the girls and baby Jay down to the beach for a little cousin bonding time!  Jay hasn't spent a lot of time at the beach so he was a little concerned about having  to get in the water.  He kept reminding Grandma that "he didn't want to get wet."  He was pretty hesitant at first to dip his toes in the water, but after a little encouragement from his cousins (and his desire to be glued to the girls hips at all times) he was soon splashing around in the water like an old pro.  They all had so much fun!  Of course I couldn't get through the day without getting after mom for tucking Jay's swim shirt into his bathing suit!!  Doesn't she realize that no one tucks anymore, especially not at the beach???  :)  

OB Street Fair!

My love of  the  OB Street Fair and Chili Cook off  dates back to the late 80's when Jim and I started dating.  Back in the days when Jim and I lived in OB we would make a day out of hanging out at the fair.......eating greasy food and listening to the various bands play through out the day.  These days we just make an afternoon out of it, but that tends to be enough to satisfy all of us!  I was just happy to be able to get a couple of homemade tamales from my favorite Mexican joint.  That made my day.....oh, that and the company of the friends we went down there with and the friends we ran into!!

Get that girl a horse!

My city girl has found the Cowboy hat of her dreams.  Which means she is now ready for our horse riding vacation!!  In a couple of weeks we are heading up North for a week long vacation at  The Greenhorn Creek Guest Ranch.  Jim and the girls are very excited about the prospect of all the horse mingling they are gonna be doing.  I'm excited to be getting away, but I'm a little nervous about being around them thar horses.  I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, I mean, who wouldn't enjoy a long horse ride in the morning and a frog jumping contests in the evening?  My City girl asked me the most crucial question yesterday!  Are we bringing the flat iron?  After she asked I gave it some thought and I asked if she planned on roping herself a cute cowboy to which she blushed deeply and replied with a stern, "MOM."  I guess a City girl has to look cute at all times, no matter the situation!!  

Heading to the Fair!

Ask anyone and they will tell you that I LOVE going to the Fair.  I have been going since I was a child, and I have now carried on the tradition with my girls.  We have many traditions we follow when we go to the fair.  First, we have to cram into a photo booth and have our picture taken.  I have years of these photo's and some day I want to frame them all.  I love looking back at them,  seeing how much the girls have grown (and I have aged).  Each year we are a little more crowded in the booth, but I wouldn't dare skip it!

The next tradition is buying a dozen of the cinnamon sugar mini donuts that are sold in the exhibit hall.  We love to watch the tiny donuts float along in their river of oil, being flipped for equal frying and then being scooped into a shower of cinnamon and sugar.  Mmmmmm....so warm and so yummy!

Of course you can't go to the fair without eating a weeks worth of calories in deep fried delicacies that sit in the bottom of your stomach like a lead weight.  We usually go to the fair with friends and our rule is that if you eat healthy at the fair then you can't hang out with us!!  It's no fun unless your friends are also smeared in grease and miserable by the end of the day.  Our friend Spencer won the prize yesterday by downing a deep fried white castle burger!! I usually splurge on friend zucchini and a cinnamon roll.  For the girls it is corn dogs and some kind of fun ice cream treat.

The other things we love to do at the fair is to look at the photography exhibit, the collections, artwork and check out the animals.  The girls love riding the rickety rides and playing games.  The last couple of years we have had the added excitement of watching Kate dance with her dance studio on the infield stage.  This year Reid beamed with pride at the second place ribbon her yearbook class won for the yearbook she had a hand in creating! 

So summer had officially started for us.........I hope all of you have had an equally fun start to your summer!!!

Happy Trails to You.........

In an attempt to find something fun for us to do as a family Jim signed us all up for a trail ride last weekend.  What he didn't realize is that I don't really like horseback riding.  I've only ridden a horse once and it was a negative enough of an experience that I haven't really wanted to repeat it again.  So Jim and the girls went without me last weekend (while I hit the scrapbooks!).  This weekend Jim wanted to go check out some different stables.  Knowing they would need reservations in order to go for a trail ride I felt safe tagging along.  While I don't like riding horses I don't have anything against taking their pictures!!  When we arrived at the stables we discovered it was a slow day and yes, they did have space for Jim and the girls to go on an hour long trail ride!  Lucky me.......the stables were located right next door to a shopping center.  Unlucky me, I had no intentions of doing something by myself so I left my purse at home!  So after taking pictures of them getting on and walking off with their horses I headed to the mall to window shop.  I got back just in time to get pictures of them coming back and dismounting.  

Jim has enjoyed riding horses so much that he is researching guest ranch vacations!  Now going to a guest ranch isn't the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of a summer vacation.....but hey, if he is willing to plan it.....then I'm game!!  

Another published article!

My sister has had another article published in the San Diego Reader.  This is a very entertaining account of her time as an apartment manager when she lived in San Francisco.  I visited her when she was managing this complex.  Since her studio was so small she had me sleep across the hall in a vacant apartment that stunk like cat pee and didn't have any electricity.  Let me start off by saying that I was a BIG chicken back then and the thought of sleeping in a vacant apartment in a big city was really scary to me.  I don't think I slept more than five minutes due to the strange noises that were coming out of the old fashioned heater and the constant fear that some freak was going to break in and murder me!  After reading her article I think there were probably more than a few tenants I had good reason to be worried about.

Oh Silly Girl!

As I was selecting an applications from my dock I accidently selected "Photo Booth."  For those of you non Mac users (which is most of you) Photo Booth is an applications that allows me to take pictures with the camera that is built into my computer.  Yes, I know it is totally cool and I am sure you are all wishing you were Mac users too........but we don't want that to happen because then the crazy virus people will start attacking us!  Anyway, back to the story......So, I click on Photo Booth and up pops all these pictures that Reid has taken of herself.  I got a chuckle out of the pictures because I'm sure she either took these while I wasn't home, or while I wasn't in the room!  She is probably going to die when she see's I put some of them on my blog.  

Yo - girlie, this is what happens when your mom discovers the fun you are having on her computer.  Hmmm.....maybe I should check the my secret spy mom files.  :)

Cleaning out our childhood!

Yesterday after we ate dinner at my moms house, she brought out a few items from our childhood that she had found while doing some spring cleaning.  The above box of shells she pulled out was a prized possession of my sisters that eventually became mine.  I absolutely cherished that box of shells and I'm pretty sure that I took it to school as show and tell every chance I got!  When my mom pulled it out I literally squealed with delight!  You see, Suzanne is older than me by six (and a half) years, and as a child I always thought that everything thing she owned was something wonderful.  Of course being much younger meant that my younger brother and I posed a certain level of threat to her well maintained collections.  So we spent a good portion of our childhood banned from her room.  I'm sure that made her things just that much more attractive.  As Suzanne turned into a teenager and her taste changed I eventually became the recipient of all things awesome.  I actually still have many of those passed down treasures.  That treasured box of shells that I always got such much joy out of is now in the hands of my daughter.  Kate could hardly believe her ears when I said that she could have it. I think she has opened it up and stared at the shells a dozen times since we brought it home.  I'm so glad my mom kept that box of shells all of these years.  It sort of makes me think twice when I get ready to purge the girls room of excess junk.  What is junk to me might make them squeal with delight when they rediscover it as an adult.
My mom is also purging all of our childhood artwork.  Shouldn't there be a rule that moms must keep all artwork created for them until their dying day??  I'm tempted to frame some of it and give it back to her as her Mother's Day present!  :)

Reid's Sketches!

I have been promising a few of you that I would take the time to post some of Reid's sketches on my blog. These are some of her more recent ones.  As you will see she really enjoys drawing dragons and weird creatures.  She has a sketch book with "cute" sketches in it, but I can't find it.  I am thrilled that she is getting so much enjoyment out of sketching.  I always loved drawing when I was a child, but I was never very good at it.  I used to love to draw this crazy bubble homes that were perched on top of a VW bug. I loved those houses!  Anyway, I think Reid may have inherited an artistic gene from my dad (the one my sister got!).  Of course with Jim taking a water color class he is proving to be fairly artistic himself.  I'll try to sneak one of Jim's paintings onto the blog when he isn't looking.

Since I just started my duties as Back stage director of our school's play I will pretty busy for the next couple of weeks.  So things might be a little slow on my blog!  But come back and visit.....who knows, I might have something to say or share. Can't promise it will be interesting, but one never knows.  :)