Post Holiday Blahs....

So here we are 2 days after xmas and I'm tired. My sister, her husband and son came up for a visit..jeez I forgot how a little one can tire you out. (And I wasn't even the one taking care of him!) We had a great holiday. Taylor got many of her "list" items. She's very happy with Santa this year. Now it's time to clean up. That's the blah part!
So here are some pictures from the holidays....

David discovers his love of trampolines!


Courtney volunteered her services to help make some appetizers for everyone. She was very helpful even though she was fighting a cold!

The kids couldn't wait to open presents on christmas eve. All of taylors cousins were there for dinner. We had a full house! We also met our cousin rebeccas new man, mark. A very nice guy. It was nice to see laurie and rebecca again. I'm holding mark and rebecca to my wine date in the future!


David became friends with omni. (or rather omni gave up running from david) I think omni discovered the benefits of a toddler. David was omni's little salt lick! And oh boy, when david was done with dinner, omni went in an cleaned up the high chair. What a help!
We never really saw madison the cat. She saw david and the dog and took off for under my bed and didn't come out until today. She's still mad that the dog is here but at least she's roaming around the house now.
Taylor spent christmas eve night with her dad and his GF and her son. So she had to wait until she came home christmas day to open her presents. She was very excited that her uncle got her a keyboard so she can practice her piano skills.

Taylor and david loved their christmas presents. They played with them until it was time to go to grandmas for dinner.


My sister and her husband at moms on christmas day. They do this popper thing after dinner and everyone has to wear paper crowns. It's fun after a few glasses of wine!


Me and my bro being silly with our crowns. All in all a fun few days. I'm definately looking forward to some down time. Too bad there's some cleaning that is involved in that. If only I got a merry maids certificate. I'll ask santa for that next year.

Happy Holiday and a great new year!

Cold December Weekend

Well the big game was here saturday night and we lost. It was too bad, but the kids had a great season and were proud that they reached the championship. Their first time ever. This game was televised on FSN too. We have TV time outs. My cousin and her friends were also excited to be cheering in the Oakland Coliseum. Quite different from the High School bleacher experience. It was so cold at the game, but we had a great time. Even though our football team lost, our cheerleaders were better and our band was better. SO THERE!
How cute are these girls. This was their last football game to cheer for and they are sad it's over.
Taylor and her cousin Nick, stayed at my house and destroyed it with the babysitter. They were a little miffed that they couldn't go to the game, but they would have been miserable and in the end, they enjoyed the babysitter.

On Sunday we had a piano recital at school. I put her performance on the page. My little prodigy. It was a cute performance as seen below.

We also have the house decorated and put the tree up. .

It's small but does the job. Already the gifts are under taunting my child. HAHAHAHA. So we're ready for the christmas holiday. 2 weeks of school left and then VACATION.

Have a great holiday!

Happy Birthday to me....etc...

So today is the last birthday of my 30's and what exciting thing did I do....wait for it....

I cleaned my house, oh and put up the xmas tree. Woo hoo...what an exciting day.

We've had a fun week off of work, now it's time to go back. :(

So here's a run down of the thanksgiving weekend festivities... I drove down to So Cal to see my sister and her family at her inlaws. A long drive down due to traffic in Santa Barbara. But, when you hit Pismo Beach on 101...it's beautiful. I keep forgetting that I love the beach. Not necesarily lounging on it, but I think living on the california coast would be amazing. I hope that someday I'll be able to do it. Anyways, landed safely in Ventura, CA and had a great 24 hour visit with the family. My sisters baby is so big and very cute.

He was fun to visit with and I made sure to remind him that I was his favorite auntie! So after the lovely dinner preparred by the other aunt, I loaded up my car and headed home. My friend was really wanting to get in line early to best buy and get a good deal on a computer. Well by 8:30 pm the line at best buy in 2 different cities was around the store. So she settled on Circut City and called to have me meet her there to spend the night. That's right..we spent the night in front of the store along with hundreds of others. It was freezing and I left several times to go home and get more blankets and go potty. Luckily she picked the store that was 5 minutes from my house so I could go back and forth. Here's a picture of the line around 4:30am
Now just so you can appreciate it, It went around the side and back of the building. Anyways, we found some good deals but I can't elaborate as some are xmas gifts.

After that long night, I went home to go to bed. I then called my dd's dad and said I'd come and pick her up, but they were going to the movies..yea! so more time to lounge and catch up on sleep. I felt hungover! Then saturday night tay and I went to the big California High School football game. Their 2nd playoff game against James Logan High School. We beat my local HS last week and now they were going to try again to continue on the the championship. Now, Cal was not expected to win. They were the underdogs and this was their first time in the playoffs but they totally kicked butt and won 27-9. It was awesome. My cousins BF scored a touchdown and now the kids are totally pumped as they get to play in the Oakland Coliseum against the Powerhouse that is De La Salle. I hope you'll all keep your fingers crossed and hope that Cal pulls a major upset! After all this is DeLaSalles 16th consecutive title bid...don't ya think it's time they gave someone else a chance!

Anyhoo..there's our family update. 4 more weeks of school and then we're out for 2 weeks for the xmas holidays.

hope you all had a great thanksgiving.

Who's got a birthday coming up????

I do, I do...so as another year passes. I realize that many of you do not know that I am really lazy...I mean really lazy...beyond what you'd think!
I've decided to share my new favorite TV show with you...as most you who know me, know I TIVO everything...gotta love that recorder.
I definately have guilty pleasures that will remain a mystery. BUT this TV year I am really enjoying Gossip Girl on the CW. I didn't think I was going to give that channel a chance after my beloved Gilmore Girls ended and they cancelled Veronica Mars. In fact, I orginally tuned in to Gossip Girl because Kristin Bell ( the actress that played Veronica Mars) was doing the voice over for the show. This show has all the juicy inane drama that I love. Anyways, if you haven't checked it out yet..I recommend it...it's on wed. nights. I know that I like it cause it's one of the few shows I watch during it's actual time, not on TIVO.
Nothing else stands out, but remember that Nip/Tuck has started up again...and it's even better in LA. Such a great show easy to get into no matter how long you've been watching.
Another new show to me is Hero's. This show is driving me crazy cause I didn't watch season 1 (and again, the only reason I watch now is that Kristin Bell is doing a guest stint) but while waiting for VM to appear I have started to really enjoy this show. I'm sure this is old news to most of you but it's new to me!
So as my last birthday of my 30's approachs, I realize that I need another TIVO..hint hint...no just kidding.
I realize how lucky and blessed I have been in my life so far and I am looking forward to the next couple of decades. I know tv will just get better and better...hahahahahahahaha

Everybody loves a parade

Friday was the big halloween parade and carnival at taylors school. Holding strong to my tradition of dressing up every other year, it was time to don a costume. I decided to be drucilla, cinderellas ugly and mean stepsister, but alas, the ugly bridesmaid dress that hangs in my closet just wouldn't zip! Ironically, it was small in the chest..when did those get bigger??????
So off to the goodwill store..they should have some hideous prom/wedding dresses right? but NO...nothing to be found. Next stop walmart. No dresses for sale, but they had costumes. So I brokedown and bought a "queen" costume. It was 3 sizes to big, but that just made it comfortable. My ninja daughter was just excited to wear her costume to school. Here is tay and me at the carnival.
So it was a fun day for all. A nice half day of work for me.Friday night we went to the California High School Homecoming Football game. They did things a little different than when I was in HS. The floats did not parade across the field, but they had fireworks. It was a good game and Cal won. BUT it went very long..taylors cousin nick came home with us for a weekend sleepover. Saturday we tried out 2 of our local festivals, both free. One was down by the movie theater it was pretty small, but they had lots of those jumpy things..so they had fun. Saturday night we went with our neighbors and their 2 grandchildren to the City halloween festival. The kids had fun, but the flyer for the city was much grander than they actual event. I will say that 6 years living here and thats the first city sponsored event I went to. I guess we'll check out more of these in the future. I hear they have a great italian festival in the spring.

Happy Halloween to all.

It's time for tricks and treats

October has arrived and the buzz around our house is how many days until halloween? It's asked daily! Along with, when is my costume arriving? Well, thankfully the costume arrived yesterday and taylor has promptly tried it on and YEA it fits. She's some kind of ninja..who knew... and another friend of hers is going to be the same. They planned it this way. The nice part is just realizing that she's still young and was so very excited to put on the costume.

So here's a sneak peak.

Taylor continues to work through the requirements of 4th grade. I have joined her in becoming more organized too. Teach what you preach right...! It's hard to stay organized but I hope to have my house done by the end of the year. Then I can start my next new years resolution!

So I hope all you ghosts and goblins have a wonderful and safe halloween.

September already??!!!

So here we are a month later. School has started and we've been busy. Taylor is having a hard time keeping up with 4th grade requirements. She is now working on her organizational skills. During the last month she discovered the internet..mostly webkins and club penguin. Which is great as she is much more familiar with the computer. She has also started the braces process. She currently has a "space maintainer" which looks very similiar to a retainer but it's on the inside of the teeth and it's not removeable.
We are both happy that school has started as it gets us that much closer to our next vacation. Which I am ready for!
We'll post pics later!