A Week in the life of....

This is what we've been up to in the last week or so.

First time bowling for both kids.  Using bumpers, Juliana and Kevin rivaled Jason and I.  OOPS!  As a matter of fact, I won one game and Juliana won two.

Kevin's preschool graduation.

Kevin and his friend Jack.

School ice cream social.  Sonia, Tiye, and Juliana.

Kevin's other little friend Jack.

DRIPPY ice cream all over his clothes and feet.

CHECK OUT "KELLY'S KORNER" TODAY!  I checked out a few of the baby rooms/children's rooms, and I absolutely refuse to participate.  The rooms are gorgeous and oh-so adorable.  My poor kids have white walls, sticky thingies on the walls to dress it up, no wooden name plates, no theme.  Oh boy, I should get crackin' on the bedroom thing.  Are my kids being neglected in the bedroom department?!

Wild Animals

My camera and computer are not friends at the moment. They are not cooperating, which is making me crazy. I have adorable pictures from our Memorial Day weekend, but I will have to post them once they make up and become friends again. I uploaded the San Francisco Zoo pictures when the friendship was still strong, so here are a couple from that adventure.

Who is next?

UPDATE: Luckily I've calmed down about this. Ughhhh, just makes me upset for those that are hurting. This time the topic just happens to revolve around those who are gay. Sometimes my frustration is about war, sometimes about the homeless, and the list goes on and on.... I just hate to witness injustice, that's all.

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I was about to write about our fabulous weekend, but that will come tomorrow or some time soon. I am so embarrassed to live in this country sometimes. I will NEVER understand how or why some people are isolated, degraded, left out, and unequal. It truly makes me wonder.

California State Supreme Court just voted to keep Prop 8 as is. In case you've been living under a rock, Prop 8 was passed in November by a 52 percent vote YES, and 48 percent vote NO for those who are gay to have the right to marry.

I have NO idea why I am so upset by this. In the end, it does not effect me whatsoever. I married the love of my life 8 years ago. I am still happily married with two gorgeous children. I guess it just makes me angry on a human level. It is so humiliating to be one of the lucky ones that nobody ever questioned about our love, our lifestyle, our children, our household, our lives, simply because we loved the opposite sex. I guess that makes me better or more worthy of being married and having children.

I am a very black and white person. I see it one way or another. This country is not based on picking and choosing who can do what. It is based on rights and laws. Follow them. It is that easy. Don't vote on individual rights because of whom they love. Law abiding citizens of this country should NEVER be considered "less than" or less deserving. End of story.

HURRY UP ... decide who is next? Who will be up for a vote in November?

Down n' Dirty

Photo Friday... my bloggy friday declaration.

Not exactly wordless

Sometimes I can not get enough of that smile.

Whacky Weekend

This weekend seemed to be non-stop. I began friday night with my friend Steph. We just did girlfriend stuff. You know, hanging out, went out for a drink, then looked at each other about 11pm and called it a night. We're lightweights, what can I say?!

Saturday, I went out to breakfast with my mom. Then I was fitted for my bridesmaid dress for Meara's wedding. From there, I took Shadow to his vet appointment then finally headed home with Shadow and all of his belongings. He is finally able to live with us again. YAYYYYYY!

Sunday, the four of us headed to the beach. We were going to a beach that we had never been to, and ended up getting locked up in traffic due to Bay to Bre@kers. It was quite an experience! GOOGLE, "Bay to Breakers". It is worth experiencing once in a lifetime, or maybe twice depending on your tolerance for whacky people and crowds. We saw people dressed as Pac-man and ghosts, the Mile High Club (passing out drinks and cookies to the people in traffic), people in many shades of body paint, a few dressed as babies wearing loincloth diapers, drag queens, and sooooooo much more. The kids were laughing hysterically at the "silly people". Jason took my camera to snap a few pictures, but he did not decide to do this until we were nearly out of the craziness. I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO... well, most of the time.




We eventually ended up at the beach, along with the entire Bay Area population. It was super hot in San Francisco yesterday. That's our weekend.

8 and Great

I know I will not have a chance to post tomorrow, soooooo, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLORE! My niece will be 8 tomorrow!

The picture above was taken in December 2005. I have many other pictures, but I thought this was really cute.

CONWAY

MEET CONWAY!

Our house is now in full blown Kris Allen fan mode! Kris is a Conway boy, and so is Juliana's bedtime buddy, Conway the Piggy. Conway was given to Juliana from her Godmommy, Auntie Tory, my bestest friend in the whole wide world. (Excuse my immature grammar for the moment.) Tory is now an Arkansas girl, and when she gave Juliana the piggy while visiting Conway, AR, we could not think of a name for it, until we reached the hotel, and then Juliana decided upon the piggy's name. He (sometimes she) shall be called CONWAY!

Conway has traveled no less than 10,000 miles on airplanes, in cars, and even on walks. That nearly ended in November 2007 when on the way to Children's Hospital to see Kevin, Juliana became very nervous to see her brother in the hospital, and vomited all over Conway in my mom's car. My mom pulled over at a Burger King off of the freeway and discarded Conway and Juliana's clothes into the Burger King dumpster. For 24 hours we thought that Conway was history.

My Dad came to the hospital and heard the tragic story about Juliana's best friend being in the dumpster. He immediately got in the car, guessed which Burger King (about 45 minutes away), and jumped into the dumpster only to find Juliana's clothes, and CONWAY too! Here is Juliana's reunion with Conway after Grandpa had Conway cleaned inside and out, literally.

Conway has been to and from the cleaners three times. Once for regular maintenance and surgery, once because someone took a marker to give nice tattoos, and then because he was enjoying vomit, onion rings, and Whoppers in the dumpster. He now needs follow up surgery, although is doing quite well.

Here is Conway today sitting on Juliana's bed.

SOOOOOO, if Conway has won your heart (but not your stomach), VOTE FOR CONWAY, ARKANSAS' KRIS ALLEN IN AMERICAN IDOL! ( I can't talk since I have never voted since the show began, but I will still ask for it anyhow.)

Why not? Here is Juliana and her Godmommy, Auntie Tory. Thanks again for Conway the Piggy!

A Little Fishy

FUNNY STORY FROM KEVIN...

I pick up Kevin from preschool today. The theme for today was, "Under the Sea". He walks out with a really cute fishy puppet thing. Once we get in the car, here is the conversation we had.

"Hey Kev, what is your fishy's name?"

"Ummmmm, I think fishy's name is GO AWAY JULIANA."

"Why would you want to name the fishy GO AWAY JULIANA?"

"So when she takes it from me, I can call fishy by his name and I won't get in trouble."

--Laughing hysterically in my own head, I said--

"That's not nice to say."

"Yeah, I know."

QUESTION. What would you have said or done if this conversation happened in your backseat?

May so far

This weekend has been busy.

Yesterday, my niece Taylore celebrated her 8th birthday at the park. It was a blast. All 9 grandchildren were there, along with some of her friends too. Such a fun afternoon.



After the party, we went to my mom's house to pick her up for a Mother's Day "linner". It wasn't quite lunch, and not quite dinner. We went to Cheesecake Factory. Yummy!

Last night, we were sticking with Kevin using his big boy arrangement. He has hated every time we have tried it, but now, he is stuck with it. He did really well, and was excited about it, as you can see in the picture.

Today we started slow, but ended up riding bikes outside, going out for dinner a Mother's Day dinner, and ending with an actual birthday cake and gift for Jason.



The pictures are a little more exciting than my boring writing skills.

Photo Friday

Juliana in her first piggie tails. Poor poor girl. Mommy got a hold of her hair and now has pictures to embarrass her! Brahhhh haaaaaaaaaa!

Photo friday-- just an excuse to look through my 21000 photos and post one. :)

NO CAKE???

Jason's birthday was on a budget and lack of time too. He is interviewing a new team of people this week, which is running late. He decided that yesterday would be more of a regular day than anything else. I could not do it! I went to buy balloons, and birthday treats. Instead of a cake, I got two cookies for the kids and eclairs for Jason and I. Something different, and cheaper than a cake. Juliana made birthday hats and is still mighty proud of them. She will probably be embarrassed in a few years when we look back at pictures, but how can you say no to creativity.

... and many many more

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! All (ok, almost all) the memories of the 13 years we have been together have been wonderful. The Daddy moments are the most cherished, thank you. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

May 5, 2005

Can you see those teeny little toes? We saw our baby boy for the first time 4 years ago today, May 5, 2005. If I was really being goofy about it, I'd point out that the date was 5/5/05, but nahhhh, I won't point that out. :) We left that appointment not knowing if we would have another girl or we'd be having our first (and only) baby boy. It really didn't matter. Still does not matter. I often wonder what it would have been like for Juliana to have a sister.


A few days after this ultrasound, I was hospitalized with issues. I think the issues stemmed from being told that his heart was not normal and another ultrasound was needed. I remember having another ultrasound and staring at his little body squirming around. It is quite surreal. In the end, his heart was healthy and has been ever since. It is amazing to me that this little cutie pie will be 4 years old, very soon. Unreal.

3 Generation Girls Night

Juliana and I went to my mom's house for a girls day and sleepover. We had a fun time! Mom suggested we go for pedicures, so we did. Juliana was amused by the whole process. The massaging chairs were making her giggle out loud. It was pretty funny! I was quite amused too. I could hear mom's IV pumping, Juliana giggling with every touch on her feet and legs, and watching the others around watching us like we were out of our minds. It was an adventure!


Last night, Juliana and I went out to ice cream with Steph, a wonderful friend from high school. We had a great time chatting. Juliana was playing with Trenton, Steph's doggy-in-training. Steph trains doggies for people with special needs. It was amusing watching people watch us as we walked in to get ice cream with a dog. Haaaa!

We ended the weekend with church, lunch, and the daily hospital visit with my mom. We are home now, kids are in bed, and I am catching up on my facebook addiction, e-mail messages, and blogs too. :)