The Dude! Sean is loving football as much as I love watching him. He is handling the transition to tackle well. They had their first game on Sat.; they won 34-0. Sean played middle linebacker for a bit and some quarterback.
here he is recovering his own fumble and then he advanced the ball 10yds.

GO #20!

I'm currently sitting here laughing so hard that I have tears streaming down my face. It's because of Ian; and Maggie's Ipod. The boy loves music and is taking the opportunity to jam to Maggie's Ipod while she is at school (muhahahaha!)

I'm guessing he is listening to Push It to the Limit from Disney's High School Musical. It goes like this.........."uh, oh, eeeeeeehhhhh, ah, eh, to the limit, limit, oh yeah." (some garbled mumbling that I can't even type) "work it now, eh, uh, uh, uuuuuuh, push it" complete with dance moves.

a SCREAM I tell ya.

And the best part, he just says loudly to me WITH the earplugs in "What is so funny, Mom?"

Man, I wish I knew how to video for YouTube.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh........can you hear the angels singing? The heavens parted and school started yesterday! Maggie is in 5th grade; Sean is in 3rd grade; and Amanda is in 1st grade.

WOOT! Ian doesn't start his T/Th. Pre-K routine until next week, but I am loving the quiet of my home. Ian is happy to do playdough/puzzles/watch TV and help with stuff like cleaning his closet. There isn't a constant hum of children bickering or wanting something to do. Just the hum of my fingers on the keyboard at the moment.

More photos to come of our end-of-the-summer chaos and pics. of the 1st day of school, but I'm currently having trouble uploading. Stay tuned.

Trying to squeeze in one last post for August --
whether you pray or just want to think good, positive thoughts, please take a moment to think of my Mom, brother & his family, and all of my extended family along with numerous friends who live in the New Orleans area. Hurrican Gustav is looming large and I hope that the area gets minimal damage; they truly can't handle it. The city is really just getting rolling again, but many people were still living in FEMA trailers. 14mos. post-Katrina there was still so much emptiness and work to be done.

You can never be fully prepared whether it's packing and evacuation or coming home with fingers crossed to see what kind of damage was done.

I hate hurricane season.

One of the best movie quotes -- Matthew Broderick from Biloxi Blues "it's hot; it's Africa hot; I don't think I'm going to be able to stay here if it's this hot"

That about sums up how THIS family of SoCal a/c spoiled folks feels.

Our a/c pooped out yesterday so we are on our 2nd night of open window suffocation. During the day it's over 80* in my house. Blech.

Downstairs is bearable in the evening; upstairs is just gross until about 3am when it finally cools off.

As I was 'tucking' Sean in bed, I had to toss out "I'm sure people in India or Africa don't have a/c and they sleep" b/c his whining was just incessant. I'm sure I won some Mom points with that.

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone - I'm thinking about sleeping on the cold tile floor.

I am grumpy today.

I am doing procrastinated girl scout paperwork. I am working on bid sheets/organizing/prepping the football silent auction that my husband is in charge of. I have had a neck ache for two day since I slept on the couch listening for the dog in case he needed to be let out in an emergency while he was sick. (how's that for a run-on sentence?)

Other than their commitments of football and/or dance and/or tutoring, my children haven't been anywhere in three days. I KNOW -- poor deprived souls. I fear that their brains are melting though b/c if they aren't in front of the TV or the computer, they are arguing about something stupid. (like who get's to be Spongebob/Patrick/or whoever b/c they act out the show while it is on b/c they have seen it so many damn times) How many times can they watch High School Musical 2? GAH!

I AM taking them to the beach on Friday. I WILL take them to the Science Center at some point next week.

But for now, I'm going to take a shower since it is 11:30am.

Poor Fritz Pup --- had his first trip to the advanced critical care last night. He appears to have colitis. Not fun for any of us. He's been a bit droopy and not eating for a couple of days and I was going to take him in today, but after detecting bloody stools (icky, sorry) I had to take him in.

I thought he might have eaten a stuffed animal eyeball or one of the green army men. His x-rays were clear and his bloodwork was good so they think it is a random illness. Let's hope.

Mini-schnauz. are prone to pancreatinitis so we have to be careful. He does get weird and won't eat much along with accidents when I go to AZ and such, but I'm hoping that is just stress and not something bigger.

He is our spoiled baby dog so he is digging this extra pampering.

It seems a bit cliche, but the saying 'good friends know your faults, but are still your friends in the end' really is TRUE. Friends come and go but true friends see you through it all.

My life-long friend is Patricia. We were neighbors growing up; three years apart in age but that didn't stand in the way. I remember the day she got her dog, Chi; Chi is long gone now. I remember talking endlessly especially while each of us hung on our backyard fences until the moment our Moms called us in for dinner. I remember one day playing 'Little House on the Prairie' and how we could never recreate that day. I remember Skate Country 1-4 on Sunday afternoons. I remember the insane car accident my freshman year of high school; to this day, I can see the 'spider webs' on the windshield from our heads & faces and can feel the glass in my mouth. I remember how intimidated we were by each other's fathers (may they rest in peace). I remember her LONG insane labor and the birth of my godchild, Jennifer. That is only a sample of the fabulous memories.

We haven't lived near each other since 1990. It's almost 1/2 my life that we've been apart. But we've stayed connected. Patricia and Jennifer were able to come for a visit recently. I hadn't seen them since March of 2002, Amanda's baptism. They came from their quiet mid-western home to my crazy CA home with four little kids.
Me and my beautiful godchild, Jennifer. She was a wee 6yo girlie in my wedding; look at her now - a college girl.
The girls -- Amanda, Jennifer & Patricia (Amanda is Patricia's godchild)
Laguna Beach, a reminder of one of the benefits of living here

Too short of a visit.
I'm pretty sure I saw them pulling ear plugs out of their ears as I dropped them off at the airport.

So, along with the rest of humanity, I've been watching the Olympics. Or should I say staying up WAY TOO LATE watching the Olympics. Or should I say falling asleep on the couch b/c the Olympics are fun but really long.

BUT it's the Micheal Phelps show - that's a good reason right.
Thank goodness I have a DVR b/c I'm missing the last hr. every single night. It's not as fun b/c I usually hear the results before I watch but at least I can watch the magic over-and-over if I choose.

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!

The top picture is the 'play clothes/curtain' costume and the 2nd one is the Kaltzberg festival costume. There are seven "families" of kids; this is the girls' in their group. Such a nice group of talented kids for my girls to look up to.

We are having so much fun.

Saturday, August 2 was a big day in our house. It was the day Sean got his first helmet and shoulder pads. He thinks it is the coolest thing. I have to admit it is pretty cute.

although getting his helmet off is a learning process and his ears are sore.

Last week they only made contact with pads and blocking dummies. Today they start full contact. I'm sure I'll have a tick by the end of the week.

So another week of summer has come and gone. We've since gone to the county fair; had my best childhood friend and my god-daughter out for a visit; visited the SJCap. Mission; hit the beach; and done more football and theatre stuff.

I thought I would share a few pics. from the fair.
Amanda checking out the huge sand castle that was structured around the theme of 'Say Cheese'. It was unbelievable.

What's a trip to the fair without a visit to the piggies? The little white one was so content.
They also had deep-fried cupcakes and oreos. For the record, I stuck to my favorite potatoes.
now THAT is some good eatin' (Australian fried potatoes)
this photo is especially funny if you know the love/hate relationship Maggie & her buddy Justin have

It took my crew about 35 seconds to inhale a monster funnel cake. I think I got a bite.

MY GIRL
Miss Maggie is off to Girl Scout camp tomorrow AM. Real camp. Overnight. Without her troop and/or leader. It's at a location that she has gone to previously with her troop. It's about two hours from here; she will take a bus. She doesn't come back until Sat.

It's really good timing b/c honestly she is making me crazy right now. She is just difficult and I'm having a hard time with it all. She will argue about ANYTHING and is just not nice a lot of the time. I had a talk with her tonight while I was helping her pack. I hope she will take this time to enjoy being on her own and making some of her own decisions. I hope that she will come back appreciating how much her Momma does for her. (ya know, little things like laundry and cutting the crust off her sandwiches.)

More than anything else, I hope that she has a great time and that she knows her Momma loves her no matter what. I WILL MISS her, but the timing couldn't be better. (and I hope that she at least changes her underwear and combs her hair)

Miss Mannie ready to strut her stuff
Maggie post tap dance
my darling littlest girlfriend, Grace


ONE WITH THE WAVES
That's what I was today. We hit the beach with some friends and the waves were unbelievable AND the water wasn't unbearably cold. So that meant I was up for boogie-boarding. I haven't laughed so much in ages. Even my friend's son said "you are going in?" Ha -- I showed 'em. Well, I showed 'em what a Mom of four looks like boogie-boarding during her once-a-year attempt.

Anyway, I was trying to post 'a month in review' of photos but blogger is being picky about uploading so for now I give you my three of my favorite girlies. So, more pictures soon.

Random thoughts for Monday..........

1) The OLYMPICS are coming; the OLYMPICS are coming! I have loved the Olympics as far back as I can remember. Swimming, track & field, gymnastics - love it all. I'll even try to watch some men's Water Polo b/c I saw them at the local pool two weeks ago. Easy on the eyes, they are.

2) Still watching So You Think You Can Dance --- incredibly disappointed that Will is gone. He is an amazing talent and will go places so I can't really complain. My top three ---- Joshua, Twitch, and Katee. Anyone else think they made Katee look like Amy Winehouse for that wicked-cool door dance last week?

3) It's the end of July and that means FOOTBALL starts today. WOOT! And that means we are one step closer to the NFL season as well. I loves me some football.

4) Now that we are into our lazy days of summer, I have been getting little procrastinated chores completed. Two bags of old papers/mail/junk-to-sort, done! Sorting the multiple kid bookshelves, done! Cleaning off my dresser....well, almost done!

The boy has got an addictive personality. When he latches onto something that he loves; he runs with it. Skateboarding, football, baseball, and now FISHING. He is down right obsessed with everything fishing. It started with a couple of small fishing adventures. And then he saw Collin check the local fishing report so he would know what kind of fish were hitting.

Now, Sean checks the fish report daily. Sometimes several times b/c he knows that they have morning, 1/2 day, and afternoon charters. I have even gotten him a journal to record the fish count b/c he was using every post-it note we owned to record it. And I have to listen to his journal notations daily. He sort of sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher to me but I've got the 'uh-huh', 'cool' responses down.

And with the beauty that the internet is he has discovered fishing videos on YouTube. It is quite hilarious. When he isn't outside running around like a maniac or playing sports, he is begging me to watch fishing videos. Huh? He is certainly channeling his red-neck roots if he is watching this, right?

On the bright side, he is learning a ton about fish/bait/technique and his penmanship is getting a little daily practice.

He has always loved the ocean and loved reading all non-fiction stuff on it. If he doesn't grow up to have a career in marine biology or oceanography I will be shocked. Gotta run -I have to go and watch a video on Flounder gigging now.

WHAT TIME IS IT?

And the answer is.......FOOTBALL!
This week Sean is doing a mini football camp of drills and skills to prepare him for the start of football practice (next week). What a blast he is having. And so are we. The coaches started with the chant 'Football - IS HERE'; 'Football - IS HERE' and that just roped me in. I really enjoy watching the boys learn; hustle; and sometimes trip over their own feet.

Some of the coaches are ex-NFL players and a few are current college players. Today they had three of the USC starters there to help. They had a short autograph session at the end of session. Sean was beaming with his Joe McKnight signature on his brand new shiny Nike cleats. He got another signature on the back of his shirt, #56 Alex Parsons; he's HUGE and intimidating, and a local boy who used to play in our league.

Such a cool experience. A casual, low-key camp that is helping foster his love of the game. He really loves the game. Help me remember this when my lean, 66-lb. boy is being squished by the 90-lb. little dudes.

For the record, we caught him trying to sleep in his cleats when we tucked him in bed.

Took me a while to put this together but the kids think it is cool and I hope you do too.....

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For the record--- I tried to waterski, but that was a no go; we didn't catch any fish except for the one sick one we happened upon while it was trying to beach itself; we all slept in one tent (including the dog) and used the small one for changing, clothes and food storage; in the picture of Sean by the tree, he isn't going to the bathroom - he is collecting one of his 328 pine cones.

There are loads of things that are disposable these days. It's all about cleanliness and recycling and convenience.

I'm here to say that I used both cloth and disposable diapers over the years and while cloth was great on the baby's skin and saved some money; disposable is certainly easier (especially when you are out and about --- carrying wet/soiled cloth diapers around just isn't fun). Now that our family is beyond the diapering stage, I have one wish for something disposable. DISPOSABLE clothing!!!!! And I'm not talking about this or this.

My friend, Amy, has been telling me about this for years. Most of her children are older than mine and while I knew I always had tons of laundry, I had little kids and that meant little clothes. They are still relatively little, but FERPETESAKE --WHY do they wear so many clothes? in a day? a week? Seriously, I folded 12 pairs of underwear in one load of Amanda's clothes (and I often will pull clothes from random hampers to make a full load so her clothes are done maybe more than once a week.) I'm glad she is changing her underwear and all, but cut me some slack Peanut.

So, you can probably guess what spawned this post. It's the never-ending clothes shuffle......who's outgrowing what/school sales are starting/pull a box of saved stuff from the garage/organize/blah, blah, blah. ACK! It makes my head explode. We have been blessed with amazing hand-me-downs from friends and family over the years so that has helped keep the cost down, but I really think disposable would be easier.

It would save me lots of water and duct tape for my head.

So my AWESOME friend, Nicole, decided that she would have my kids over to swim while I hit Costco.....ALONE! Did you read that; I said ALONE. :)

I got a cart and enjoyed my hotdog and Mocha Freeze in peace. Grabbed some new pjs; glue sticks for school; new beach towel; and then I conquered the list. Holy guacamole. I had ONE cart completely maxed out without one square inch available. It was piled high and I carried the Oxi-Clean at the end b/c there was no room and the cart was too heavy anyway. I knew it was bad; people were staring. And they weren't staring b/c my kids were behaving badly b/c I was ALONE, remember.

The cashier even said 'I hope you have a black membership card b/c if you don't you are losing money.' I was quite smug when I handed her my card, coupons, and rebate check. I exited with two carts b/c the packing folks aren't as efficient as I am. AND I lucked out by running into a friend with her kids in tow; she sent her 8th grade son with me to load my car. Sweet.

I have decided on two things: 1) next trip I will get the barge instead of the cart and 2) a bunch of flowers; milk; and gatorade are the best trade off for shopping sans kids!

EXHALE..........
we've been out of school for about a month now and just today I finally feel like I can take a deep breathe and exhale. We literally have been on GO! since the day after school let out. The camping trip to Bass Lake was awesome (slideshow to come, I promise) and now that dance recital is done/baseball is done/VBS is done/swimming ends tomorrow/and Sound of Music rehearsals are done the rest of summer seems exceptionally slow-paced and mellow. So what if we have football starting soon, I don't have to go if I don't want to. So what if we have SofMusic shows to do, it's not every show nor every weekend. Tutoring sessions drop-off & pick-up...Meh, no biggie.

I declare the rest of the summer to be filled with beach days; visits with friends; and lots of relaxation. Which definitely includes watching So You Think You Can Dance.

And, ice cream, preferrably Breyer's Chocolate Crackle!

Egads! (isn't that a great cartoon expression?) Well, I sorta feel like I'm living at a cartoon/zany/fast-paced speed. Let's see in the last three weeks --- we've had two dance recitals; out of town guests (waving to the Poynots; we MISS you!); numerous baseball games; several play rehearsals; tutoring for Mag; swim lessons; 4th of July; more swim lessons; Vacation Bible School; and WAY TOO MUCH food on-the-go. I'll admit I love fast food (mostly) but the thought of eating drive-thru or in my car makes me want to gag. I honestly would rather starve.

Of course, I have tons of pictures. But no time to upload them and share the joy so you'll have to use your imagination until I can get back to you. Here's a picture from our camping trip to Bass Lake; it will have to hold you over......

SUMMER IS.............
swim lessons and
lots of time at the pool
THE BEACH
several bottle of sunscreen
Vacation Bible School
summer book club at the library
long days of playing outside until you can't see the ball anymore
awesome fresh fruit and endless watermelon



Angels baseball games
Smores
the Circus
Ice Cream! and Popsicles!
never-ending beach towel laundry
sand overflowing the lint-catch in the dryer
What does summer mean to you?

SLEEP -- it's something I've always been fond of. I would love to nap daily if I could. I love to sleep in. I just love sleep. My sleep patterns have changed over the years and adjusted to whatever life has brought.....newborn non-schedules; sick children; staying up late to catch up with the DVR.

Every since I became a Mom, I have been pretty strict about napping and bedtimes. As you can imagine, with each additional child the nap schedule changed a bit but overall bedtime was maintained and rituals were a reality. I really, really wanted my kids to be good sleepers. Sleep trained so to speak. We still have the occasional middle-of-the-night stealth child who decides to make his/her way to our bed but for the most part we are beyond co-sleeping.

Sean has had night-terrors since he was little. If you have never experienced one, it is so hard to explain. For him, being overtired/exhausted seemed to be the trigger -- I could almost count it down to the minute of him being put down to sleep. One hour later, we would hear unusual crying; take off running to his bedside; find him sitting up in bed screaming with his eyes open. The lights are on but no body is home, literally. Thank goodness his episodes were short in duration and he could (& still can) be calmed down with monotone repetition of "you are safe; you are in your bed; go back to sleep; you are all right". Beyond that, he is a good sleeper. So are Maggie and Ian.

But now we are having sleep issues with Amanda. It all started around Nov./Dec. 2007. Her waking episodes were much like Sean's night terrors except that she would be up and walking around her room. She could be resettled with the monotone banter relatively quickly. I thought it was stress/anxiety related because she was excited but anxious about being in her first play. The play came and went. Now, months later, she has progressed to sleep walking. She will look like she is completely awake; she will come downstairs if I am still up watching TV (or updating my blog). She has a certain 'look' to her and she doesn't communicate even though she will get a blanket out of the basket and get comfortable downstairs. If I catch her at the top of the stairs, I can send her back to her room softly and she will turn around and go back to bed. She looks wide awake but has no recollection of any of this in the morning.

I'm getting a little concerned. This past weekend while camping she literally started unzipping the tent to get out while sleepwalking. Collin stopped her twice. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. I wonder if she is sleepwalking more than I know about. Would she try to leave the house?

Good sleep is a good thing. I appreciate sleep and I want her sleep to be restful. What is causing this? Can I do anything about it?

LOVE is the 1st day of summer.............

THREE.........

How many days are left in school?
How many roles the girls & I are vying for in a local theater production of Sound of Music?
The current baseball tournament Sean is playing in, in as many weeks.
The age that I despise and am thrilled that I don't have children to get through.
How many times will it take for the restoration company to finally get my kitchen nightmare cleaned (not there fault it it is taking mulitple trips) and ready to be remedied?
How many chapter books I want Maggie and Sean each to read over the summer (at a minimum)?
How many nights are we going to camp (or should I say attempt to camp) in a tent with the dog?

Over the last few months, I've been following the amazing story of Tricia and Nate. (the link to Nate's site is over on the right as well) It's truly a story of faith, miracles, and love. Today on his site, Nate linked to a fellow CF patient and her dad's bike ride to raise money for CF. I urge you to go over to Nate's blog and watch the video that Eva made to promote awareness for CF; grab some tissues and watch her amazing story.

Also, say a prayer today for Tricia since has to have a surgical biopsy today.

Today, I feel very blessed to have four healthy children.

A good day....

I went to Catalina with the girl scouts today. They selected this as their 'cookie money' trip. I had never been. Catalina is AMAZING; I'm trying to figure out when Collin and I can get over there sans kids. The weather was perfect and it was like paradise. I'll try to post some pics soon.

Sean's all-star team won again today; 19-2 in the 4th so they mercy-ed them. (just like yesterday 13-0) Tomorrow they have two games so it will be a Sunday at the ball field for us. The tournament is in a nearby beach community so the weather should be just perfect.

I think I'll top this awesome day with a latte and call it good.

How is it possible that my kids have EIGHT days of school left and then we'll be moving on to 5th, 3rd, 1st, and pre-K. EEeeeeekkk! The last couple of weeks have been full of busy-ness and insanity. A little update -----youngest to oldest......

I think he's growing again . He is crashing in the late afternoon no matter where he is and he still goes to bed on time. How can he grow when his diet is mostly cookies that he sneaks out of the pantry?
I went with the kindergarteners to the local zoo. The kids are just so cute and excited by the little things. Just being away from school was a treat, but add a few monkeys and feeding the goats and it's a party. All I can say is that my ears were ringing when I stepped off the bus. Bus drivers are a special breed.
Sean's all-star baseball team won the Memorial Day tournament for his level. The normally have six inning games and they won in the bottom of the 9th! It was the most amazing youth game I have yet to see. They start another tournament this weekend.
This girlie is just getting too big too fast. This is her and a friend. I took them out to lunch & shopping. Matching outfits; sunglasses; and 'best/friends' necklaces. Pure fun.


And lastly, the biggest kid got a new toy.

I'm so, so, so SAD. A restoration company is in my kitchen clearing a disgusting amount of slug from under my cupboards. There is apparently a leak/problem with the garbage disposal and the mystery smell is revealed. The guy just cut into the back of my under-the-sink cupboard in an effort to get EVERYTHING cleaned out. The plumber guy is coming early next week to get to the bottom of the problem; the cabinet people are coming out on 6/10 to tell me if we can salvage the cut-into cupboard and quote us on new kickplates.

In the mean time, I'm back to having NO sink and we will be using paper plates/paper cups & plastic utensils.

Words can't describe how sad I am. Trying to look on the bright side -- at least I have an oven that I can cook frozen Stouffer's and such in.

Now I'm going to bury my head in a pillow to drown out the sound of the guy's drill making yet a bigger hole in the cabinet.

I'm out of blog ideas for today, so I'm posting 100 random things about me & my crazy life:

1. I love watching my kids play sports.
2. I love watching my kids in dance recitals and plays.
3. I love being in plays.
4. The first play I was in was 'Winnie the Pooh' in high school.
5. Kathlynn is my best friend from high school.
6. I miss her terribly.
7. Patricia is my first friend.
8. We grew up as neighbors and were inseperable.
9. Her daughter is my godchild.
10. I was there when Jennifer was born.
11. I miss them too.
12. Growing up in/near New Orleans was a blast.
13. I HATE mosquitos.
14. I should have focused more when I was at UNO.
15. I was a UNO Starlette for a couple of years.
16. I tried out for cheerleading once in college and couldn't do a stunt to save my life.
17. I met Collin at a fraternity party at UNO.
18. He broke up with his girlfriends of four years that night (not b/c of me).
19. I quit UNO two semesters before graduating to move to CA with Collin.
20. I graduated from Cal. State Fullerton.
21. I have a BS in Child Development.
22. I taught kindergarten at a private preschool for two years.
23. I never imagine I would have four kids.
24. Collin and I had been together for 7 years when we got married.
25. We had a cocktail party in our room after our wedding.
26. I hated our flight to Italy.
27. I loved Florence the best.
28. I have no desire to travel that long on an airplane ever again.
29. Especially if I have to take my children.
30. I love to travel.
31. I love Hawaii.
32. I went to Hawaii for my high school senior trip.
33. I've been back twice since then.
34. I highly recommend Kona Village.
35. I love the beach.
36. Not a fan of the sand, but love the atmosphere/waves/etc.
37. I don't go in the cold Pacific very often.
38. I'm not a good swimmer.
39. I'm afraid of open water.
40. I have no desire to go on a cruise.
41. I think Tom Cruise is a complete idiot.
42. My favorite actor is Tom Hanks.
43. My Cousin Vinny is one of my favorite movies.
44. I don't like scary movies.
45. The last movie I watched with Collin was I Am Legend.
46. It was scary, but the perfect movie to scrapbook too.
47. I am a Creative Memories consultant.
48. I love scrapbooking and treasuring our memories overall.
49. I am way too far behind but at least I'm organized.
50. I'm going to scrapbook tonight.
51. I love making scrapbooks as gifts.
52. I'm learning how to take better photos.
53. I love my camera.
54. I wish I knew how to use it better.
55. Some of my dearest friends are from an online Mommy board.
56. I have met many of them in real life.
57. I miss them terribly.
58. I have some incredible friends in CA.
59. I don't know if we will live in CA forever.
60. I love the weather, but don't fit in in many ways.
61. I want to be a better Mom.
62. I buy organic milk.
63. I each too much fast food.
64. I wish I were comfortable with my weight.
65. I love coffee.
66. I love chocolate.
67. I have no sense of smell b/c of Zicam.
68. I'm really bummed about it.
69. I want to get my spider veins and varicose veins fixed.
70. I'm super self-conscious about that.
71. I want to get my teeth whitened.
72. I'm self-consious about that too.
73. I'm learning to appreciate the little things.
74. I love reading children's books to my kids.
75. I'm trying to read more for pleasure.
76. The last book I finished was Sundays at Tiffanys by James Patterson.
77. I highly recommend The Road Letters by Phil Ribaudo
78. My childhood favorite is The Monster at the End of this Book (Grover).
79. I went to an all-girls Catholic high school.
80. I worked at Wendy's for four years and got two scholarships from them.
81. My first car was a 1979 Plymouth Horizon (hand-me-down).
82. I currently drive a Suburban.
83. I can't park it very well.
84. I think I have ADD.
85. I am an extrovert, yet shy in some situations.
86. I volunteer at my kids' school.
87. I'm trying to learn to say NO more.
88. I love getting messages.
89. I usually polish my own toes.
90. I love Diet Dr. Pepper.
91. I've been watching Days of our Lives forever (probably 30 yrs.).
92. I can remember when they came to New Orleans for Bo & Hope's wedding.
93. I went to the World's Fair and had a annual pass thingie.
94. I love my DVR.
95. My favorite shows are Grey's Anatomy/Survivor/So You Think You Can Dance/Deadliest Catch/The Bachelor/Desperate Housewives/.....I'll stop now.
96. I probably watch too much TV.
97. My first dog was named FiFi and she was a chihuahua.
98. I didn't start taking dance until I was 12.
99. I like to cross-stitch and the only sport I can do remotely well is ski.
100. I'm adopted.

Such is my life in a nutshell.........

I'm just a bloggin' fool aren't I. I'm trying to get back in the swing of it; it IS really hard to get back into the groove when you become a slacker.

Rewinding a bit -- I took the kids to AZ for Spring Break. We went to the Botanical Gardens. The kids played this little desert detective game that keep them entertained and paying attention. The Gardens were really beautiful with lots of cool stuff to see. The butterfly garden was a huge hit; we could have stayed in there for hours. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:


giant saguaro

butterfly on bottlebrush plant

LOVE is watching my all-american boy try to fly a kite for the first time.

Yes, I know it is in the DVR recording, but I am DYING to interrupt Sean & Collin's viewing of Friday Night Lights (the movie). It is 9:19pm afterall; Sean should be in bed but I am eavesdropping on the neatest conversations about football, bad parenting, etc. Don't they realize that American Idol is on right now?!&*%!
.........fingers crossed for David Cook! David Archeleta can take his lip gloss and go sing on a Disney cruise ship.

A Wicked Afternoon

Time spent getting there on a busy Sat. afternoon: 1hr.45min.
Cost of parking: $15
Random sandwich to share from hole-in-the-wall Hollywood Blvd. shop: $8
Program (that she hasn't gotten her nose out of): $20
Bottle of gold, I mean water: $4
Having your 10yo grab your hand in excited anticipation as the lights dim & the curtain rises: PRICELESS

I'm willing to bet good money that I'm the only woman in Irvine that cut the grass/ used the weed eater/ pruned the roses/ weeded the flowerbeds/ blew all the debris together for final clean-up. AND it's 85 degress outside.

Yes, yes, FLIP ME A FISH!

Just about everyone I know (seriously, I only know of two other people who do their own lawn) has a gardener. Of course, I did it b/c I'm having a scrapbooking workshop tonight and I wanted the yard cleaned up a bit, but you can still flip me a fish.

JOY'S Edition of TV Talk
So I was wrong.......Parv wasn't a dead woman walking. She walked away with the money. I'm sooooo disappointed, but still can't wait for GABON. I'm hopeless when it comes to Survivor.

Now, What about American Idol? GO DAVID COOK! It should be a tight race next week. I don't think David Archeleta is the AI powerhouse type that will be a hit; unless they put him on Radio Disney and make him their next merchandise machine. He has a nice voice, but I'm not digging his appeal. I would listen to David Cook any day of the week. He is not Chris Daughtry, but he is so talented in comparison to Archeleta. David Cook can find a nice niche and run with it. I can't wait to see what he does for the finale.

Shows officially deleted off of my DVR -- Lost and K-Ville. Gone; bye-bye. I could never get into K-Ville and Lost had me barely dangling on to be interested so I just made the grand decision to erase,erase.

Up next on the DVR list -- So You Think You Can Dance! 5/22 -- must watch.

Grey's Anatomy and House are finishing up. And for the red-neck girl hidden deep within my soul, Collin and I watch The Deadliest Catch. We each have our favorite captain and watching these guys battle the elements for amazing crab is riveting.

All hail the DVR! What's in your cue?

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there; we just got back from our annual camping El Capitan Canyon weekend. It was FABULOUS, relaxing, and just plain fun. I have tons of pics, but that will have to wait b/c TO-DAY Miss Maggie is 10! My biggest girl.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sorry I don't have any pictures on my computer from her toddler years to show you b/c she was just absolutely squishy. She still has the most amazing light blue eyes; she still loves anything to do with dance & drama (sometimes she creates her own drama, lol). She is definitely going to give me gray hair, but she is working on it. Her bond with Ian remains strong and recently they have started spending bedtime together with her reading to him. It is just precious and I don't ever want that to change.

Right now she is playing the viola and doing really well. We want to have her start taking piano b/c she definitely has an ear for music. Dance recital is coming up and this year she is doing an acro/jazz number and a tap dance. And her first resident camping trip is this summer. She will be gone for four days. It will be weird for both of us and probably harder on me than her.

As time continues to roll on too quickly, I try to appreciate the small stuff like the fact that she stills wants to be tucked in at night. Happy Birthday to my loverly.

Princess Bride. Monty Python. Caddyshack. The Godfather. Austin Powers. What do they all have in common? Well, if you are a movie lover (and geek) like me the answer is simple. MOVIE QUOTES!! My main movie to quote these days is PeeWee's Big Adventure. You see, it was all the rage for my best friends in high school. Kat could do a mean Pee-Wee Herman imitation; I am laughing just typing this and thinking about it. We imitated the bar/dance scene at all of the dances; walked around chirping 'la, la, la' for no apparent reason; and repeated "Shhhh, I'm trying to use the phone" until everyone around wanted to smack us I'm sure. There are so many downright hilarious scenes --- like this and this. How can I pick a favorite?

Just like music, movies bring me back to certain times and places in my life. I LOVED Grease as a young girl and now as a Mom I'm having a hard time letting my kids watch it b/c of the constant sexual overtones. I remember my Mom taking us to see Blue Lagoon in the theatre and two old ladies chastising her about it (lol!). Oh how I wanted to be on Fame or in Flashdance. Then Dirty Dancing came along and I wanted to vacation there so I could sneak out just like Baby. (don't laugh b/c you know you wanted to too)

So what movie quotes are your favorite movie quotes that you occasionally toss about? any movie that bring you back to your childhood?

Now I gotta go rent PeeWee's Big Adventure.

Quote of the day:
Ian to his 3yo friend "My Mom is allergic to noise."
I love that little dude!