I'm truly lame!

So I know I haven't updated in a while. We've had a pretty mild couple of months up until xmas. Taylor is still on progress for braces. It looks like it's gonna be a few more months before full metal mouth. She needs to lose 4 more teeth. She's doing great in 5th grade. Getting much better grades than last year, her teacher is very impressed. I think summer school did a world of good last year.

We had visitors in November. Auntie stacey and family came up for thanksgiving week. That was different as we are usually on our own, but she's having a baby soon so they couldn't come out in december. Instead we are headed there. We also celebrated my big 4-0 that month. A nice dinner with family at Chow. I didn't drink as much as I would have liked but it was a great night. Nice to see everyone.

School has let out for the holidays and it was bittersweet for me as my boss retired. He was a great boss, even though I complained about him relentlessly. I mean who else is gonna let you get in screaming matches with them and still respect you the next day. My new boss ron has some big shoes to fill!

We head out to Texas for a visit this month. I look forward to meeting my new nephew or niece. I will post pics here as soon as it's born. I had a plan for New years but thats shot now, so it's me, tay and great gma partying it up together. HAHAHA...lets see who can stay up the longest...i'm thinking taylor!

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone.

One Month Down, 9 to go!

So not much is happening here in california. School is school. Tay is doing very well so far (fingers crossed). She started Faith formation (catholic high school here we come!)She might play basketball if they change the practice date. Still waiting for that phone call. Oh and the big news we finally started the steps towards braces. As seen in the picture below:


Headgear is the first step to fix the jaw then the actual braces go on. We expect some time this year 2008 but it might not be until 2009. Tay is the only kid I know looking forward to braces. Crazy!

October is looking to be a busy month. Birthday parties every weekend. Including a trip for mom to so cal. to see the nephew for his birthday. Also looking forward to seeing the cruise friends again. Keep your fingers crossed for an ocean view room too. That would be nice.
We had our first rain or sprinkle. But since that happened I have turned off the sprinklers and will hope it starts raining enought to keep the lawn green.

All the shows are starting back up again. Totally hooked on Hero's and still very confused. I haven't really seen a new show that has knocked my socks off yet but there's still time.

Cya all next month.

Erika's getting OLD!

The gangs all here! Gathered together on Saturday in St. Helena for Erika's 35th Birthday. It was a fun day all around. We met the birthday girls hubby at a park to drop off the minor child (hahaha) and then headed over to merryville winery for some wine tasting. I discovered a dessert wine I liked, something new! After the wine tasting we headed over to the park to meet up with the grandparents and children and Erikas sister made up some food. I don't want to downplay lunch, but I've been looking forward to it as soon as I heard elisa was coming in to town (from Denver) to cook for her sisters birthday. What a wonderful present for us all! She is such a great cook and I have missed her food for years. Although my body hasn't. We had a great time and taylor and annalise bonded again. They begged for a sleepover, but we had plans on sunday already and so did annalise. Those girls are so cute together! I can't believe how big they are. I'd have pictures of them but my batteries died after the crappy shot above. Oops...

5th grade Rules!

Taylor is too cool for her desk!
Today was the first day of school for taylor. The last year of elementary school. She rules above all the lower grades...or so they'd have you believe. We had a beautiful argument this morning over uniforms. It's funny to me that for the last 5 years she has worn a uniform with no issues and now in the LAST YEAR that she has to wear one a simple argyle vest ruined her day. She wanted to wear it over her uniform shirt and I simply informed her that it was not in the dress code. That was it...a happy morning turned into a chore. Now this is not news to her which was the frustrating part for me! We eventually left our house and arrived at school nice and early. Plenty of parking! Taylor beat her teacher in and bounced around visiting people. I chit chatted with a ton of moms...catching up on summer plans and looking forward to the school year. I hardly got anything accomplished today with all the visitors and new moms coming in to check on their account...sign up kids for stuff etc. The day FLEW BY! This month ought to fly by and then next and so on...just kidding. Hope everyone elses first days were great!
Taylor and Caroline...kinda twin like..not even planned!


Look how cute my litte leah is..my favorite kindergartner!

She's Home!

My daughter returned from camp today! I am very excited to have her home. She is currently in bed resting from her long trip home. I had a fun drive down with Alex's parents and brother. We stayed at a hotel close to camp and ventured over this morning to meet the girls. I couldn't believe how I started crying when I saw her at camp. Good thing I was wearing my sunglasses! After the hugs and catching up we went up to the rec room for their awards ceremony. My daughter and her friend cleaned up! Tay got alot of ribbons and certificates and her best ones were "all around girls" camper and 1st place in animal care and horsemanship. Her friend got a ton of awards too but her favorite was the "all around" camper. That was fantastic. She thought taylor was going to get that one too but she pulled it out and it made her very happy. She lost grand champion horse by 1/2 a point so the plaque she got for the all around made up for it. The girls had a great time and taylor can't wait to go back next year. She's already informed me that she wants to go back for 3 weeks next year!

Now it's time to get ready for school! We're getting a hair cut and some new uniforms and shoes during the next week and then off to school after labor day. Hope everyone had a great summer. I look forward to this year and the challenges that 5th grade will hold for my daughter.

I've discovered the Bay Area...and I like it!

This past weekend I had a friend from out of town come in to visit. Plans were made and I was to be a tour guide of the SF Bay Area. Now I don't know about you, but I haven't really toured around the bay area. Growing up here you really take advantage of the amazing places we have to offer. That said, here's the run down of my tour guide abilities!
We started off by going straight to the Apple campus in Cupertino. I'm not an apple fan but my friend was and wanted to see the "mothership". Additionally, they have a company store there that sells items only available at the company store. It really wasn't all that exciting and in the end even the apple freak wasn't that impressed. BUT we took pictures and got some "available only" souveniers. After that we headed to my favorite local restaurant, Lark Creek, and had a great meal. I love the meatloaf there and their Lemon Drops are outstanding.
The next day we headed to Alcatraz and SF. Again, haven't been there in years but off we went. It was very cool. They have an audio tour that is included in your ticket price and it was very interesting. Then we walked down to Pier 39 and the wharf. We walked all over. Looking at the crazy souveniers. Down to Ghiradelli square and back to pier 39. We saw the sea lions..they were cute. I had planned on walking the Golden Gate bridge but we spent so much time at the wharf that we just went up to Coit Tower, Down lombard and then over to ocean beach, where Brian went into the Pacific ocean for the first time! I know it was only feet, but it counts. After that we headed over to Oakland to see the A's play the 1st place white sox (Bris hometown team). After the white sox had developed a lead, I am proud to say that our hometown team pulled ahead with a walk off home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it. Someone was bummed about the loss, but don't worry the White Sox came back and won the next 2 games on saturday and sunday. Saturday we headed down to monterey. I have to say that was the most boring part for me. It was cloudy and cold. Not so much to see. We went to the aquarium, which saved the day. It was really neat. Lots of otters! After that we headed to Santa Cruz and luckily saw some sea lions just milling about on a pier. We stopped and took some pics and then travelled on. The Boardwalk was crowded with lots of people. We rode the Giant Dipper and then the Carousel which was fun. Like riding it with a 4 year old! Then got free tickets to a new ride. Some shoot out computer generated one. It was fun. I came in 2nd, Brian came in first. Someone gloated over that for a while.


Sunday we headed over to Marin. It was foggy and cold but we went over to the Golden Gate bridge. I took a wrong turn, which ended up being a right turn and discovered an overlook I had no idea existed. Beautiful views of the bridge, city etc on the pacific and the bay side. We then headed down and parked and walked out a 1/3 of the way. I haven't done that for 20 years. It was very interesting. I wouldn't take the kid out there cause it's scary being up so high, but it'll be fun one day. The weekend is over..time to start getting back into the real world. Work and picking up tay from camp this weekend. Soon enough school will start and 5th grade will bring on a whole new challenge!
Hope everyone had a great summer.

Our first sleepaway camp!

Sunday morning we got up and got ready for Taylors first time at sleepaway camp. She was going with her BFF alex for two weeks and Jacinda and Hannah are going to be there for one week. It was very emotional for ME! Not my child she was all...ok mom cya while I wanted to hug her and unpack and stay there for hours. Her camp is down in So cal right across from the beach. Well night right across but you up in the hills. A beautiful view driving down.








We took some pictures, got her registered and settled and then I left.




I headed back up to nor cal on the long drive home. 6 hours later I arrived at my house and gave my cat some attention, took a nap and finished this blog. I hope taytay has fun at camp! I'll miss her, but I have an exciting week coming up..more to come.


Tay and Sad mommy Alex and Steph

Birthdays and Bull Riding?!?

Saturday we had a lazy morning and waited for the rest of our crew to join us. Heather, Cameron, Lori, Tim, Kristen, Emily, Marr, Jacinda, Dom, Aaron and his daughter Hannah we all expected to arrive after 10am. Heather and Cam arrived first followed by my partner in crime Lori and family which included taylors BFF from the cruise Kristen. Marr and clan didn't make it to Bubbas before leaving for lunch but they were going to meet us at the restaurant. It was a big birthday party for Dom (5), Emily and Brooke (both 6) at a local pizza place. The kids played video games, ate pizza and impatiently waited for marr and clan to show up. Luckily she made it just before we were going to cut the cake without them. The birthday kids had a great time and happily opened their presents.
Thanks for the cake BandV! It was great. After lunch we headed over to the beach to park and take the shuttle to the Ventura County Fair. This is where the fun began. Carnie food and lots of it. I was not feeling so great from all the crap I had eaten over the weekend, but I had to have funnel cake. We all split up and hit different parts of the fair. Lori and I took Kristen and taylor to the big rides first. Then we found tim and emily and went off to find the livestock. I went to my very first rodeo and saw the bull riders.
I was impressed. My first rodeo...so many people who would be impressed by that! After the rodeo we finally found the livestock. I took pictures of the grand champion heifer and swine and we walked around and saw all of the other animals. Then Lori took emily to use the last of her tickets. Tim and I and the kids found everyone else sitting down and we got my funnel cake, corn dog and beer and relaxed. We all decided it was time to leave and headed back on our special yellow bus shuttle to the beach. We took some time at the beach to let the kids run around and play in the sand. It was a beautiful evening and the kids had a great time. Then we headed back to the house to start our evening of reminising of vacations past. Of course it included drinking and plans for our next vacation. Repo anyone!? Summer 2010! We had to say goodbye to heather, cam, lori, tim, kristen and emily as they were just down for the day.
Taylor, kristen and emily. too cute!

It was sad to see them go but it was great to see them! Our night ended a little later than the previous night but we were all tore up and tired and bed was calling our names!

Friday Fun day: A Magical Reunion!

Friday was the first day of the big cruise reunion. All of us from our magical panama cruise were meeting up in Oxnard at Bubba and V's house. Gaylean and Jon got there first with their kids and my kid. I arrived around noon. Bubba had to work but V took the day off to meet up with us. We got our stuff all settled in and headed to "lunch". Although most of us had eaten my skeletal child wanted mozzarella sticks. So off to chili's for us. I ordered food (big mistake) and they were no longer selling mozzarella sticks so taylor got a quesadilla. Gaylean and Jon had chips and salsa and the "big" beers. We all had our version of Drinks of the Day. After our lunch we headed back to the house to wait for bubba to get home. Then off to dinner at their favorite mexican place and back to the house for tequilla sunrises. We started playing poker and my daughter joined us and cleaned up the place. Too bad we weren't playing for cash! An early night for me as I got up at 5am to drive down there. So off to bed at midnight.

Heading to Camp

This past weekend it was time for taylor to head to camp. She was in So. Cal. with her dad for the week and we coordinated a place to pass her from one to the other down there. So I had a nice relaxing drive down to Oxnard, CA by myself. My favorite part of the drive down 101 is arriving at Pismo beach (and all the clams you can eat!). The mountains just open up and there's the Pacific Ocean. It's beautiful although friday it was foggy and my fanatastic view was obstructed! The ocean goes away for a while and then comes back out again at Gaviota and you have this beautiful scenery all the way down to oxnard. There's something about driving with the Ocean on your side that is so relaxing and makes the long drive better. Arriving in Santa Barbara is always nice.


Some day I plan to actually stop at all these places and spend some time visiting. Sounds like a nice mellow vacation to me. A week at the beach in califorina all down the state!

**all pictures taken with my IPHONE, I apolgize for my car being in them. I haven't mastered the camera yet!

Summer Sleepovers

So this weekend was the promised sleepover with taylor and her bff alex. Taylor impatiently waited for her friend to arrive and she did promptly at 4pm as promised. Then they proceeded to destroy my nice clean house! OMG, kids. I had told the girls we were going to watch the outdoor movie in the park that night. So around 6pm we headed off to safeway to get some dinner and snacks for the big night. It was a nice day, but who knew that the park would get so cold! I know we are wussy californians who can't handle anything below 70 degrees. I brought 2 blankets, 2 pillows and a bag (thanks to the PIA) full of snacks and drinks. We arrived at the park around 7pm and the kids ran around and played while I set up our blanket. We got a great spot right in the center. I was very excited to see the movie, The Princess Bride, one of my favorites. I hoped the kids would enjoy it. BUT alas, the weather was getting colder and the wind was picking up. The girls started to complain so we bundled up as best we could and waited for the sun to set. Apparently there were some technical difficulties and they started the movie a bit later than usual, around 9pm. About an hour into the movie one kid was asleep, though she swears she wasn't and the other was laying on top of me sucking up all my heat. We didn't make it to the end..very close but not quite. Taylor started begging to go home, to cold to stay. So we packed up and headed out. Right at the good part, the wedding. Of course, I said "as you wish" taylor. This was a great thing though because they were so tired and cold that as soon as we got home, they crawled into bed together and fell fast asleep fully dressed. I followed them promptly as I was very tired from the previous night.

The girls woke up early and followed the only rule in this house..."don't wake mommy". I love that rule. They were very good so I decided to treat them to IHOP for breakfast. They had a good time and came home and continued to destroy what was left of the house. I reminded my child that she was responsible to clean up the house whether her friend was here or not. So she recruited her to help clean up.

While all that was going on I started my chores with laundry. Well imagine my suprise when I went into the garage to change out loads and discovered it flooded. Oh Great! Turns out my 1970's washing machine finally gave out. So after taylors friend left we headed to sears and lowes to shop for a new one. We did find one and I begrudginly paid for it. Why is it when I decide not to spend money, I end up spending money!

Now we are winding down our night. Taylor is watching the new Hannah Montana and I am enjoying the fact that I can't do laundry for a few days. The house is back in order too. Taylor is looking forward to her last week of summer school and then she has one week of camp at school and then she's off to grandma chars for a week with her dad, jen and ryan. He's going to drop her off at Gayleans and we are all meeting in Oxnard for a cruise reunion with the cali peeps and then on sunday taylor goes to her first sleep away camp.

I am looking forward to 3 quiet weeks. A "moms" vacation if you will. August is going to be a fun month. 1st our reunion, then I have another reunion the following weekend, then I am going back down to so. cal. to pick up taylor and soon after that school starts.

I can't believe the summer is over...well not quite. ;)

Iphone weekend

So, I finally got an Iphone. I did not get one friday as promised, however I went myself saturday morning and picked up an 8gig 3G phone. It was all very exciting to me (except for the cost!) I came home and promptly plugged it in to charger. There is going to be an issue with me to charge with the computer at home. I hope not to forget. I am so used to running it down all day and then plugging the phone in to charge while I am sleeping.
I have figured out the voicemail this morning. So people can now leave messages. I also put on my Katy Perry ringtone. Love that song....It's a bit pissy how they get you on the ringtones. On all your phones. I'm sure I have spent over $20 on ringtones on each phone I had...if you purchase it why can't you copy it over? What a racket business!

Have a fabulous July. We have no plans until august! :(

Off to clean...steph

Get out the tiny Violins...and some good news!

So my 4th of July weekend started off with a bang~I got a wicked sinus infection. Oh joy. I woke up friday morning feeling like crap. Taylor and I were going with another family to Inverness for the weekend and I was dreading it. Suzanne called me in the morning and I sounded like death warmed over! She offered to take taylor and let me stay home, but I wanted to go. As the day progressed on and my head felt like it was going to explode, I finally gave in and sent taylor with them, hoping to load up on enough cold medicine to get me there saturday. Saturday came and went along with 2 boxes of kleenex! I haven't been this sick since my cruise and I was very depressed on saturday. Pity Party for One please! BUT...I slept through the night saturday night and woke up so pleased that I jumped in the shower and headed over to Marin County! I called Suzanne and told her I was on my way. I got there around 9:45am and it was COLD!. When I left my house at 8am it was already 80 degrees...it was only 60 in inverness. It was very cute there. The home they were staying in had a peek of tomales bay. We hung out for a little bit and then loaded up and headed down to the lighthouse. It was very foggy,windy and cold (at 1pm no less) but too cool.





After the lighthouse we went to drakes beach and had lunch at drakes cafe. The kids played in the sand. The fog has lifted a little over drakes and we had a nice time walking in the warm sand.

After that we headed to Inverness and their 2 stores, then to Inverness Valley and their 1 Store..these towns were so small and quaint. Then we headed to Pt. Reyes Station and walked around there. I don't think I could live in this area, they are a little too birkenstocky for me. Organics, Vegetarian blah! The kids finally whined enough and we headed back to the house to veg out. The kids went in the hot tub with suzanne while Andrew and I vegged with our beers. It was very relaxing. We goofed around for a couple more hours and then closed up the house and headed back over to home. Taylor had a great time and I appreciate that my friends took her with them





The Good news is...MY SISTER IS PREGNANT! Baby #2 is due at christmas. All I want for xmas is a ticket to dallas! Cash is accepted!