New Puppy

I get to choose between these two

I get an email from the breeder this last weekend and she sent me a picture of the two puppies I have to choose from. The kids and I are going tomorrow to actually pick him out and then we'll be able to pick him up next weekend. I'm so excited I can't even believe it.

More Robert-isms

Grandma Sandy served pancakes this morning. When pouring syrup onto the pancakes she says to Robert, "Say when..." and Robert says, "Okay. now."

Anyone Want A Child????

Okay. This morning I got the kids ready to go to school and every thing was going smoothly. Carly was her usual self -- grumpy. It's always so hard to predict how she'll be throughout the day because sometimes she'll snap out of it and be so much fun to hang with. HOWEVER, today was not the case.

Robert had those old-fashion pictures being taken at his school. I was very excited to have both the kids' pictures taken. So Robert's teacher kindly made special arrangements for us to have the pictures taken this morning. So I got the kids ready to go and was on my way. At this point I thought Carly was good to go too.



We get to the school and all seems good. Carly seemed even excited to be there. The photographer was obviously a master with children. He was making them laugh right and left. I was truly thinking that this was actually going to happen. HOWEVER, once Carly saw that she had to change into a dress she didn't like, she went crazy. At first I was baffled. After all it was a cute gunny-sak type dress with a cute hat with flowers on it and she was FREAKING out. She calmed down some when she saw her ham-ola of a brother getting his pictures taken. But when it came time for her to sit down with him she began kicking and screaming and actually smacked the photographer screaming "NO!" After a few minutes of this, I realized that my dream of an adorable old-fashioned picture of the two of them was futile. I told the guy to forget it and apologized for wasting his time. He apologized in turn for not being able to take the picture. As for Carly? She screamed the whole entire time I was changing her back into her own clothes and back to the car. At this point I'm ready to give her away.



The rest of the day she seemed to mellow, but was still pretty nasty. I had to put her in the naughty spot a couple of times for smacking her brother for no reason. Finally at dinner time she started to fall asleep while eating. It was really quite funny. However, she still had some fight left in her because when I went to go lay her down she woke up just enough to screech at me and say, "No! I want Grandma Sandy!"

So. Anyone want a kid????

Robert-ism

We were in the car running an errand. Carly was finishing off Robert's apple. Robert says, "Look Mom! Carly ate the whole thing up to the seeds!"

I said, "Wow! That's good!" Reminiscing, I continued, "When you were tiny -- even littler than Carly -- you used to eat the whole apple seeds and everything. You were this itty-bitty thing running around with this huge apple and the next thing I knew you had eaten the whole thing!"

Robert with a huge grin on his face says, "Yeah and before I could eat food I ate from mom."

Me and Sandy just cracked up.

Some Things Never Change

Yesterday was a good day. Mike, G. Sandy and I went with a bunch of Mike's friends down to LA. One of Mike's good friends invited us down to the Farmer's Market. It had been a long time since we've been and thank goodness for our trusty babysitter, Rachel, we were able to take off early. We all met up and had a good time. We drove through Hancock Park (which was beautiful) and walked around Farmer's Market and the Grove. I never saw the LA so up close and personal before. And honestly, I found a new fondness toward the city. Anyway, I bought some outrageously expensive balsamic vinegar ($33!!!!) with ever intention of using it to the very last drop. (I'll make a salad for you all so you can taste. It's out of this world!) And I bought a beautiful pork loin from the butcher (a real butcher! very cool!!). We ended up eating at Taylor's, an old school LA restaurant. The food was amazing. Anyway, so we're eating dinner and I began talking to my friend, Debbie (whom I love) about movies (because we both like movies a lot). I told her that I had just seen "PS, I Love You". And she said how much she liked it and I said that I did too -- yadda yadda yadda. And then she says that she just saw a movie that she wouldn't recommend to see but that she liked it because it was funny. I asked what it was and she said "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". I said, "Oh really? You liked it? Howcome?" She said that it was funny, but in a raunchy way. I said that she was right. I specifically didn't want to see it for that very reason. She just shook her head acknowledging that she knew that. And we went on to something else.

Later I got to thinking about that and it got me to reminiscing about my youth. It use to bother me that people thought I was a goody-goody and I always wondered how they new that. My husband always throws that at me. He tends to laugh at me at times (he laughed so hard when I called prison "the joint" one time. why????). I mean, I feel I've lived a pretty full life. I've seen things and know things. I feel I'm somewhat wordly. However, I'm still seen as a goody-goody. It bothered me a little bit but then I just figure that some things will never change. And I suppose, in this case, that's a good thing.

My Favorite Day

Friday's are my favorite days. Call me crazy but I love them. But today was especially a good one.

It started out with attending my son on a field trip to Young Chef's Academy. It was fun. The kids got to make their own pizzas and ate them for lunch. However, I learned how outstanding my son truly is. Not to brag or anything, but truly I was so impressed with him. He was kind, courteous and supportive. He waited patiently to be called on and when his friends were taking their turn he would pat them on the back offering support. He was witty (he named the pizza dough "Peter" which everyone thought was funny) and charming; and such a gentleman! He has a little girlfriend whom he made sure was taken care of by helping her onto the bus and sitting with her with his arm around her. I truly was very proud of him. Here's a picture of him with Asahli:

Next we met our friends at the pool. We ate lunch and swam. Unfortunately, I had to take Robert home after he threw a bit of a tantrum. That broke my heart. Not because he threw the tantrum, but because he couldn't be with us. Thank goodness I could just drop him off at home since Grandma Sandy was there because it is ALWAYS good having lunch with the girls. Friday just wouldn't be Friday without it. Also, I was able to have some one on one time with Miss Carly Jo which she loved (and I did too).

When Carly and I got back my house was miraculously clean. This is another reason why I absolutely love Fridays. My house is cleaned by our cleaning fairy named Rosie.

To top it all off, it's date night. Without fail we go out. And if my husband isn't available to go out, I go by myself. He's mostly available and tonight he we went to a new restaurant in Newbury Park and saw "Iron Man" afterwards. It was the perfect movie to end my favorite day.

Annoying People Part 2?

Every night I try to take the dogs out for a run. I usually try to rollerblade along side so that they can really run fast. Quite honestly, I'm not a very good rollerblader and because I'm not a very good rollerblader I get nervous when the dogs start going really fast. I have practically worn my brake down to a nub because of it. However, I manage to stay upright when the dogs are pulling me. Anyway, last night I rollerbladed with the dogs to the housing complex behind us. They have a dog park designated for residence there and I like to sneak in and let the dogs run around. Usually there isn't anybody else there so it makes for a nice quiet time alone. However, last night a nice young girl came by with her dog. She came to the gate and asked if my dogs were friendly. I said "yes" and she proceeded to open the gate. Most dog owners know that dogs like to sniff each other at their first encounter. And as expected my dogs went to the gate eager to sniff their new friend. HOWEVER, apparently this young girl didn't know this and opened the gate ALL THE WAY. I'm sitting there with my rollerblades on watching this whole thing as if it were happening in slow motion. Of course, my dogs saw their chance to escape and did. So I began running across the grass in my rollerblades and attempted running up the stairs and rolled out onto the street. The girl not knowing what to do stands there a moment then went after the dogs. I was, of course, greatful. But that soon passed when I realized that the dogs just kept running down the street. At this point the girl and her dog disappeared. Again, because I'm not a very good rollerblader I'm rolling down the street swaying back and forth so as not to fall. Yes. It was humiliating. Nonetheless, I managed to catch up with the dogs and did capture them. But I had to take off one skate to walk/roll back to the dog park because in my haste to get to my dogs I left their leashes behind and had to hold onto their collars. As you can imagine I am NOT happy at this point. Nonetheless, on the way back to the dog park the girl who caused the whole mess shows up apologizing up and down. I have to admit she was really nice about it, but I was too upset to acknowledge that and just muttered that it was ok and went on my way. After I got the leashes we went home. Needless to say, I was really annoyed. Yet, the girl was so nice that it made it difficult to be completely annoyed. Which annoyed me even more because I really wanted to be annoyed more than I was. After all I had every right to be, right? At least, this time I refrained from any bad words.

My Favorite Rock Star

My son wrote me a rock song today and played for me. I got it on video, but I'm not sure how to upload it so here are some pics:

This is the sheet music for the song. He said there are a lot of "O"s so that he can sing "ooooo" a lot.



Here he is playing the song for me. He went and changed his clothes to put on the black t-shirt and slicked down his hair to give me the full affect. You can't tell from the picture, but he's totally bouncing to the beat of his song. At the end he threw up his hands and said "Goodnight Everybody!!"


Ahhhh!!! My favorite rock star ever !!!!

Time Out For Women

In spite of the rude awakening back into real life Saturday evening, I had a great day. I spent the whole day with my girlfriends down in San Diego. We went down to the Time Out For Women women's conference. For those of you who don't know what that is it's a women's conference that is church affiliated and put on by Deseret Book. We met at my house at 5:30 SHARP (that was for you Pam) and began our trek down to San Diego. The whole way down was a blast. As soon as we began driving, the joke cracking began. And in between the jokes were serious conversations. To me, that's how you know you've got good/real friends -- you can talk about anything and not have to worry about what you say.

Once we got to the convention center we parked and tailgated with some bagels, cream cheese and oj (juice not Simpson -- hehe). We then headed into the convention center to be spiritually uplifted by excellent speakers and wonderful music. My favorite talks were by John Bytheway and Emily Watts.

John Bytheway was true to form. He was quick witted and full of energy. The main thing I got from him was this simple statement: The Savior saves our families we don't. Emily Watts talk was very similar in that her whole talk was about Free Agency. More specifically, our children are free agents and we don't get to control them. So, since these two talks were my favorites do you think I must have some control issues? Actually what I mostly got out of them was that I can't control my spouse not so much my children. He is in control of his own life not me. It wasn't a new concept it was just one that I needed to be reminded of and very hard to let happen.

Here we are eating lunch at a deli in the Seaport Village:

We got back into Simi around 7pm laughing all the way home. We ended our day at CPK and then went our seperate ways. I truly had a great day with my girlfriends. It was the best time out I've had in a long time. Until next time, Ladies......

Happy Mother's Day to Me

So I was gone all day today (I'll explain where what and why at a later time). I got home at around 9pm and Grandma Sandy was just getting the kids to bed. I was actually happy they weren't in bed yet. I wanted to ask them about their day and talk about how much fun they had with Grandma Sandy, etc. It was nice catching up and giving each other loves (mmmmm). However, after we got caught up and I had given them their gifts it was time for bed. The kids wanted to sleep with Grandma Sandy again, but I suggested they sleep in their own beds since nobody sleeps well when they're all together. Well, you would have thought I was "whipping them all soundly" the way they were carrying on. Carly screamed a blood curdling scream so loud I had to shut her into her room until she settled down. Robert was throwing himself onto his bed and wailing like a banshee, "I want to sleep with Grandma Sandy!!!!" over and over again. I was so tired myself that I was tempted to give in to their rantings, but I stayed strong and even kept my cool and within just a few minutes they were sound asleep. HOWEVER, after I had gotten Robert settled down and asleep I went to check on Carly. I knew she had most likely fallen asleep in front of her bedroom door and she did, but I also noticed that during her rantings she had taken the gift I had given her and broke it. It's easily repairable but that's not the point...My sweet little princess was so mad at me that she broke the gift I gave her. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? Brother. I really hope she grows out of that. If she doesn't, we're in for one heck of a ride! Anyway, during the time of the rantings all I could think of was: "Happy Mother's Day To Me."

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE BEAUTIFUL MOTHERS I KNOW

Grandma Sandy's In Town!!

We're so excited! Grandma Sandy is here! We love it when Grandma Sandy comes for a visit. We went to the airport to pick her up this afternoon and we just got back a little while ago. The kids are sleeping with her tonight. How cute is that? Here's a pic of the kids and her. She's reading them their bedtime story (she got to do the whole bedtime thing tonight....whew!)

They're all in Carly's room right now just talking and giggling with the lights out. I love that they have that experience of what a grandma is. I never had that. My father's mom died when he was a young boy and my mother's mom only speaks spanish and lives in Mexico so I never did develop much of a relationship with her. I was always so jealous of hearing how my friends loved their grandmas' so much. But it's all good now that my kids have the experience of a real grandma.

We love you Grandma Sandy! Welcome Back!!

There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe

Remember the nursery rhyme about the old woman who lived in the shoe? Well, let me refresh your memory:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe

She had so many children she didn't know what to do!

So she gave them some broth without any bread

And whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed.

When I was a little girl I was quite disturbed by this. I pictured this crickety old woman with gray hair and worts on her face. She was permanantly bent over and just mean. As a mother of only two children I totally relate to this old woman. By the end of the day aren't you just done with your kids? Don't you just want to whip them all soundly and send them to bed? It doesn't mean we don't love our kids to death we're just tired and still have so much to do. Like tonight for instance. I've got a pile of laundry on the couch; the kitchen still has to be cleaned and the carpets need to be vacuumed. So after the kids' bath I tried to rush them into getting their jammies on and all they wanted to do was goof and play with each other. The NERVE! So I threatened my son with taking away ALL of his priviledges and Carly with the naughty spot if she didn't stop bugging her brother. It worked and I got them to bed quickly. However, I hate to admit, but I think I am the old woman who lives in a shoe!

Turning 40

Why is it so hard to turn 40? What is it about that age that makes it so hard to accept? After all it's just a number right? So why is it that it seems like our lives are over at 40? My friend Janna is turning 40 tomorrow and her sweet husband threw her a surprise party today. At the party she expressed how difficult this birthday was for her. I completely understood. After all I turned 40 last year and absolutely did not want to. Those of you who have turned 40 know exactly what I'm talking about. It's like a shock into reality. It was like life was passing me by and I'm not doing anything about it. So I decided to do something about it. I ran a triathlon. It cured me of this "I'm so old" attitude. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it -- that 40 means nothing. And it worked because while I was training I met women in their 60's and 70's who were or had trained for triathlons. There was one lady who was in her late 60's who was running the same triathlon I was and she blew me out of the water. She was amazing. So once you get over the initial shock with turning 40 you realize it's not so bad. Life does go on. Although, you may not have as much energy as you did when you were 30 and you may take a little longer to recover from injury or what have you. But life certainly isn't over. I went roller blading with my dogs this morning for goodness sakes. Life definately is not over.

Happy Birthday, Janna!!!!

A Room Fit For A Princess

So here it is: our princess's room. I hope the picture comes through well enough to see the detail (my blood, sweat and tears - hehe). I still have to do the closet and the trims but the bulk of the project is done. Thank Goodness!

Oh No!

Mike gave Carly 50 cents to put in her purse and said, "What are you going do with all your money, Baby?" And without having to think about it she says, "Buy shoes."

I have no idea where she gets that from.

Painting Carly's Room

So for the past two days we've been painting Carly's room. Carly, of course, was ecstatic. Her color of choice was pink. But not just an ordinary pink -- Hot Lava Pink to be precise.

So we started painting.....

And painting......

Until we got the under coat done.....

I finished the top coat tonight at 11:30pm. I don't have the picture of that yet so you'll have to wait until tomorrow. But here's a picture of my house and the complete mess we've been living in for the past 2 days:

This is why I hate doing projects. I can barely keep up with the house as it is let alone when I'm doing a project. So it stays a mess. AND IT DRIVES ME NUTS!!! But tomorrow Rosie is coming. Yay!!!

Did I mention I finished the room, but won't have a picture until tomorrow? I'm so tired....

My stupid dog ate a doll I had ever since I was a little girl today. I know. I know. All of you are saying, "And you want another one???" Yep. But you have to understand Max is just a sweet, dopey dog. And the kids love him. So he's staying. Here's a pic:

Max was incarcerated for the whole day after that:

Stupid dog.