St. Patty's 2010

Luke's Sunshiney Day

We've been experiencing some absolutely amazingly beautiful weather for February. This week has been perfect. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as we are expecting rain starting tomorrow thru next week.

Yesterday, Luke and I, met up with with 2 of the triple D's! We hadn't played in a while because of January's rain, so it was nice to let the crew run wild for a bit.

Starting fresh!

The new year hasn't been all that horrible. February marks the start of a new journey for me.. wait, wait. Did I just say February? Is it really February already? Holy cow! I have been trying for some time to loose weight. And up until now I've done nothing to make that happen, I partly owe some of my hesitation to my addicting and oh so yummy white mocha's from Starbucks. I do hope he will forgive me for my abrupt disappearance. I will have to find another drink to fall in love with or to satisfy my need for caffeine. I can come up with any excuse really.. time, the kids, work, exhaustion.. some of the few I have used for my laziness. But it's a new year and it's time to take responsibility and make it happen. I really need to start spending more time for myself. And that doesn't necessarily mean outside the house ( though this is nice too ) but I can't remember the last time I relaxed in my big soaking tub, or did my own toe's, put on a face mask... These are the thing's I'm talking about. Just the small things that a Mom can do to make herself feel good.

Monday starts the new me. The me, on a track to a much healthier Mom, wife, friend and daughter. It's time to make smarter choices on what I put into my body. So, I'm going back on weight waters and I'm going to kick this last 40-50 lbs in the ass! Nursing Luke really had given me a kick start to loose some weight but I did nothing with it. I've managed to keep the 20 something lbs I did loose.With that said, I've decided to start a blog for myself to track my progress, feelings, thoughts and to remember how hard I worked to shed the lbs, because this time I'm going to do it! And to overall just feel good!

Another wild playdate

Since the weather has been too chilly for our preferred park outings, ourselves and the wild ones have been forced to move our Playdate/sanity breaks indoors. Here are some awesome shots of Luke that, Tia Andria, once again, has captured!

Snow days

Saturday we decided to take a trip to the snow. For the boys it would be their first. The last time I went was the February before I became pregnant with Andrew in 2003. Super fun! Unfortunately, we could not find the same hill that we went sledding on. As a result we ended up further into Lake Tahoe than we wanted. We ended up at Lake Tahoe Adventure. What a chore this place was. We just wanted to kick back and go down some hills. First off the place was a zoo! Stupid us for going on a holiday weekend. We get up to the entrance to find there's a 10.00 fee for sledding and we have to use their Sleds! Okay fine 30 bucks it's! Not after running back to the car to grab cash because they won't take Debit/credit for sledding, running back again to put our sleds away, We fill out the waiver's get our hand stamps all while working up an awful sweat! Thank goodness we were in 39 degree weather. Finally, we're off! Up the hill we go... no belt? Sheesh! by the time I get to the top I'm whooped! The place was a mess. People cutting in front of people to go, people falling off mid way and just laying there, people walking up the divide rather than the side to come back up. I mean it was ridiculous! Despite the craziness of the resort, it was all in all a fun time for us. Luke is suck the little dare devil. He got so man when it took a long time to load back on the sled. The first time I went down with Andrew he got mad because we flipped, I landed right on top of him pushing his face right into the snow.. he was not a happy camper but I could not help to laugh! And best off all was the 4 hours drive home! Talk about some family time eh?

All Andrew wanted to do was fill his sled with snow balls!

Luke just wanted to explore the snow as he does everything else!

We wish you a Merry Christmas.. and a Happy New year!

There's no doubt that we had a blessed year, considering a few bumps in the road. Who doesn't have bumps though, right? Some may be smaller or larger than others, but some how you find a way to get through them. We have to be reminded that things can always be worse, and thank god for our home, a warm bed to sleep in, hot meals and health. We may not always have a steak dinner or be able to plan a trip to Disneyland. But I am more content being in doors on a rainy day ( or even a warm one for that matter ) playing with my kids, than anything in the world. I've learned to appreciate the smaller things in life ( by choice) focusing on what matters, rather than always wanting more of something.

The kids had a great Christmas. I had a great Christmas! After an awesome Tamale dinner at my nlaws, we have to cut the night short as the kids were running rampid! They hadn't even had dessert and they were everywhere! There was no way they were going to last 2-3 hours! We headed home a little earlier than hoped. My parents headed over and arrived around 8-8:30ish.

I spent the rest of the evening wrapping some last min. gifts while handing out with my Mom in the office. And Papa and Daddy lounged around watching a movie. I think we all ended up in bed somewhere around midnight. The kids were up at 6am, yep, that's right! Coffee pot was a brewin' and presents were being opened. We topped the morning with a nice eggs and toast breakfast. After clean up, the kids were put down for naps and Christmas dinner prep started. I have to say if it weren't for my parent's I don't know how I would of pulled it all off. I lost count on how many dishes my dad washed! My only set back was the Turkey took longer than noted to cook. So, dinner was served a little later than hoped for. We all stuffed our faces with: Smoked Turkey, Ham, Mashed taters, Candied yams, stuffing, orange jello, cranberries, rolls and Broccoli casserole - Yum!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with you loved ones, and may 2010 bring you many blessings!

Happy ( better late than never ) Birthday, boys!

Boy, where did the year go?! Are these 2 little monsters 2 and 6? On Nov 28 Andrew turned 6 and on Dec 23rd Luke turned 2. A birthday bash was had on Dec 5 with our friends and family, and what a celebration it was! We bounced until we couldn't bounce no more! Unfortunately, Tia Andria has all the original photos from the party so I can't post any without them being blurry. But I will have an awesome hard copy photo album for the boys to remember their special day! Thanks Tia Andria for bringing your equipment , and special setting to help in capturing those hard to get moments!

Buyer Beware

I'm a little out of date on my posts so please pardon the old news. Sunday officially marks the start of my vacation, and on of the things on my "to do" list is get my blog up to date - as well as some new posts from the holiday as well.

On Thanksgiving, which was celebrated at the nlaws, we noticed that Luke has some blue stuff all over his fingers and in his mouth. We couldn't figure out what he had gotten into. It was concluded to be a marker, which appeared to be washable - whew! I washed his hands and mouth out and turned around and they were blue - Again! At this time they were snacking on some Cheetos. After a few minutes of this bugging us, we noticed that everyone who had eaten some Cheetos had blue mouths! The Cheetos were from Halloween, and were color changing!

We were cracking up! I guess this teaches you to always read the labels when buying food!

Let it snow let it snow let it snow

Now here's something you don't see every day in Sacramento. Snow... yes snow folks! I can't remember the last time it has been as cold as it has been the past few days! Burrrrrrrrrr

what you can't see , is behind the firetruck door, is a white car flipped over on its side on a residential street. There was absolutely nothing around! How in the world they flipped is beyond me! Never the less it was that highlight of the drive to school yesterday morning!

Snow on the neighbors car. Steven had already left so I was not able to get a pic of the snow on his.

Snow top fence!

Snow on the grass.

I was certainly sad to see it melt away!

First hair cut

As much as it hurt me to do it, it had to be done! 

Halloween 09

This year we strolled the neighborhood as Mickey Mouse and Bumble Bee. A FANTASTIC Halloween it was! The day was spent around the house, cooking home made Chili and visiting with Manama, PaPa, Grandma and Grandpa! There were more Trick or Treaters this year, but still not enough. It's exciting to see the neighborhood slowly growing though! 

Transform and roll out!

Cutest mouse I've ever seen!

The Buckets! 

All combined together with our left over candy! 

Luke had a wonderful time, and was so good! We let him got to the first set of houses, but it got tiring after a while because you have to go with him and make sure he doesn't trip or fall down the stairs. He sat the rest of the trick or treating in his stroller. Sometimes I would push the stroller up to the house and they would put the candy in his bucket for him.  He had no problem sitting back and taking in all the costumes and decorations! 

Yeee Hawww He's finally asleep!

Since retiring the crib and putting Luke in his big boy bed, it has been challenging to say the least. Naturally, having this new found freedom to get in and out of bed whenever, and not having to risk breaking a leg doing it, Luke thinks nap time is play in the room quietly time. Or take all the clothes and diapers out of the drawer time.  Today after about an hour of constantly going back and forth, telling him to get his little towhead in bed, I noticed it was quiet, so thinking I was going to go in and find him into something he shouldn't be in, I found this instead....

Peacefully napping ( on top of Sulley ) wearing brother's cowboy boots! 

Ah.. the life of a toddler!

Cousinly Love

Are you ready for some ( Flag) Football?

We've started football! We've had 2 games so as you can see I'm just a tad behind. The season is short, but it's something recreational for Andrew to do before we hibernate like bears this winter! December we'll sign up for T-ball again, and await the call for the line-up in Feb. I'm not entirely pleased with Fair Oaks rec. It's not an extremely organized league.. there's no team parent that I know of, no snack schedule and communication is not so great. The first game was supposed to be at 9, which is what our schedule says. We got there between 8:30/45 and they had already started.. thought it was a little off but ok. So, second game, this past Sat. Same thing. We get there same time, and the game already started. I was a little steamy at this point. Apparently there was an email that went out ( that we never received ) stating the game time had been moved up to 8:30. Sheesh, do I get a pro- rater refund for the game time he missed out on? Totally just joking, but pissed me off a little. 

Andrew lucked out and didn't get assigned to the Raiders, he's a Colt. Which we can live with!

We're still getting used to the mouthguard!

"Alright man, lets knock this play out!"

So serious! 

Blue 42 - HIKE!

They've invaded; we're under attack!

Before I blog anything I must say how good it feels to be blogging. whew! I miss my wittle bloggy world!

Here is Luke, my little prince charming... Only that frog is not quite the princess, and I think we've got this backwards?! So, what in the world does this adorable photo have to do with the title of my blog? Well, glad you asked... Living in a new development, there is still much that is undeveloped. Across from us is a big empty hole and right now it serves as very many things. During the summer it's serves as a little pond for the ducks, and occasionally a swimming pool for the neighborhood dogs. Lord knows what else lives in this muddy mud hole. But I can assure you, I won't be finding out. ? With our rain storm yesterday, brought out some familiar green slimy friends that we had a problem with the first winter we moved in ( almost 2 years ago) I will add that the problem then was not as bad as the one we had yesterday. The rain came and these guys came out in full force, let me tell  you!

We've been infested with frogs!

As you can see some aren't quite as large as others. They varied in size I had only seen one huge one, and he seemed to be the smartest of them all to keep cover!

Here he/she is hiding under the basketball hoop, he was pretty big, thought it's hard to see with all the babies surrounding his/her body.

I'm afraid to report that these little green slimy guys didn't stand a chance against the traffic that comes down are street. To be honest, we live on a dead end street, so the only traffic that passes are those that live down our street. But with the looks of the street now, and all the frog remains that are waiting to be washed away or pounded deeper in the pavement with passing cars, it's quite devastating. I think we lost half or more of the frog population in our little "pond".

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We even had some friendly ones who came right to the porch to visit!

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peek-a-boo!

We dedicate this post to all our green friends who lost their lives to the cars of Hetch Hechy Dr.

New beginnings with old friend...

My apologies to those who actually ready my blog for my longer than usual absence. The routine of getting back into school mode and the starting of Flag football have had me rather occupied ( Among other things). I thought I would get back into my bloggy grove with a very unique story that happen this weekend.

On Friday, I met up with an old friend ( I don't mean old as in 10 years ) but it has been about 6 years I believe ( roughly ). Before I worked for Apple I was an Asst. mgr in retail. I worked retail thru my pregnancy, and with the horrid things the company did to me prior to leaving, and the train wreck of things that happen during my Maternity absence, it was easy for me to decide a career change was in order. One of the girls who was working in the store at the time this was all going on was Nicole. There were so many qualities about Nicole I absolutely loved, but was not sure she was in on all the craziness that was going on. We worked together quite a bit and soon realized that she too was effected by all the madness and was not in on the scheme of things.

I went on leave, Nicole worked at Papyrus and also became pregnant with her first child, Taya, or Tater Tot as her mom calls her, which Andrew thinks is the funniest thing right now. The last time I saw Nicole before Friday was right after Taya was born about 5 years ago. I don't know how, but in the midst of life and starting families we lost touch for a bit. I found her on FB/Myspace and well the rest is history how we are reunited. You would think this might just be a story of 2 friends finding each other on a social network but I am not so sure about that...

So, Friday...Andrew and I went to her house. Andrew played with Taya or Tater Tot, while Nicole did my hair and got caught up on 5 years worth of life. When I arrived ( after being 45 min late from being lost! Soooo my fault! ) Nicole begins asking me about where I lived exactly. I explained over the phone that I would be taking Grantline down to El Dorado Hills and then would hop on 50 the rest of the way to her house. knowing I lived in Rancho Cordova, she asked where exactly did I live. Now, being a fairly new community and being hidden at that, not too many people know exactly where Sunridge Park is, but know of the community over, which is Anatolia. I just said I live by Anatolia. She says well I just bought a house in Sunridge Park. At that point I would of LOVED to have seen the look on my face when she told me that! Of course I was like OMG I live in Sunridge park!!! Turns out, her and her fiance will be moving into a house down the street that is across from mine at the end of November! I tell you I still can't believe it. It's the strangest thing. And here when I saw her I was thinking it took 5 years for us to see each other again, when is the next time we are going to be able to get together!! Forget about that! We are going to be neighbors! Ironically we will be going to Tater tots B-day in a couple weeks, so we will see them again before they move here. And what is even more awesome, Taya and Andrew will be going to first grade together next year too! Seriously I need to be pinched! It's like our friendship was destined! * lol*

Luke gets wet!

Compliments of Tia Andria, here is a sample of some of the fun we have been having this summer.Andrew starts school Monday and I am hoping to get some blogging in. I have some really cute pics to post.

Could it be the last?

I fear that this could be, if not, one of the last play dates we will have with our wild cousin's. It's has been a summer full of spray parks and Starbucks and I am just not sure I am ready for it to end. As Andria has been searching for jobs left & right ( in between our play dates of course ) she finally has an interview! Woo hooo! 

On another note, School starts very soon ( Aug 17th ) and I am just not ready for it all to end.My what a different life having a child in school brings. School clothes shopping, homework, nightly reading, packing lunches and the hours of my sleep decreased by 2! 

What a handsome duo these 2 are!

Silly boy, it's clear he is too big, but he would not stay off of it!

Ah and to our wild ones, without which, our play dates would not be possible!

Summer treats!

Today I decided to forgo lunch... Well, not cold turkey! The boys did eat but not your traditional PB&J that's for sure! By the time Luke got up from his nap it was about 2. And lately we have been eating dinner pretty early. So, I changed and dressed Luke, threw a shirt and shorts on Andrew, loaded the car and off to McDonald's for some soft serve Ice cream. ( We stopped at Costco to top off the gas tank for The boy's Tahoe Trip tomorrow ) 

I got the ice cream cone, while the boys got it sundae style. Andrew watched me in panic thru the rear view mirror as I eat my rather large cone. "It's going to fall off" he was shouting. I just giggled and said, it's not going to fall off! We got home and Andrew could not wait to dig in. Luke was already diving face first into my cone as I carried him in the house. I was actually a bit full at this point and offered up to him the rest of my cone. He willingly accepted the offer! And surprised to say, he did not make as big of a mess as I thought he would. I think it was so yummy he just did not want to waste a single drop!

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Olema Ranch Camping 2009

I was starting to think that our camping trip was not going to arrive. With a couple minor bumps we were loaded and off bright and early! We had stayed at Olema Ranch before, this time not so crowded. Which, in a way, was probably good. During our days, we have some people camp next to us. Some people stayed 1 night and were gone early the next morning.

We kept busy. We pretty much did a beach a day. It was so much running around. I'll be honest, I would of enjoyed a little more down time, but Steven does not like just sitting around relaxing as I do. He did take Andrew one afternoon to a second beach and Luke and I napped. Nothing like taking a nap in the afternoon right in the great outdoors!

We also made the much anticipated stop for the Oysters! They are a big thing down that way. We were actually invited to try them by a camper the last time we were there. That guy had the small ones but Steven got the big ones this time. He eat 10 of the 12! I passed this time.

Despite the nightly raid to our camp site by the Raccoon. All was really well. We had one night we were awakened my a man yelling. It was rather strange. I almost thought I was dreaming, but Steven said something the next morning. The boys slept amazingly well considering how chilly the nights were. Luke slept like a baby that he is. He was well bundled so I did not worry about him, but Andrew, we had to show him the proper way to sleep in a sleeping bag.

All in all, the trip was just what I needed. Does not solve the problems but surely lets you forget about them for a few days.

Make a Smilebox slideshow