Spring at its finest

Spring has sprung.

The poppies are in full bloom...

Children are in full bloom too.

and the ducklings are playing in the puddles.

Look closely next to the house. Baby ducklings are walking with their mommy.

Weekend, goin' goin' gone

Saturday was ANOTHER shower for my sister-in-law. This one was at my sister's house. It was a small intimate shower with some friends and family too. Here are some pics for you since I know you are dyin' to see them.... :)

Sister-in-law Laura with baby Cristian in her tummy, and my step-sister Tegan with her 3rd daughter Hunter in her tummy.

ALL of the girls in our family. Me, my sister Stephanie, sis-in-law Laura, step-sisters Tegan and Shannon.

My dad showed up near the end of the shower. Juliana loves loves loves Grandpa! Grandpa is rubbing her hair in this pic.

Noooo, Juliana did not just smack her cousin Taylore in the face! They are playing a game and I happened to catch the right moment that Juliana looks like she's gonna break Taylore's nose. Haaa!

After the shower, we came home. Later saturday night, my mom came to stay overnight. She had been in "the city" for a play, so stayed overnight to head to my Granny's early sunday morning. Juliana and Grand had a sleepover in her room. Juliana slept on the floor, and in the morning I found, my mom, Juliana, and Kevin ALLLLLL in Juliana's little twin bed. It was so darn cute!

Sunday evening my long time friend Rebecca and her fiance Josh came over. They live about 5 hours away, but are flying to Japan today for their honeymoon. I had not seen Rebecca since my wedding 9 years ago, and so she had never seen my oh-s0 adorable children. It was great to see them interact. Rebecca and I go back 30 years with more memories that most of my other friends. ANYWAY, Rebecca, Josh, and I went out for drinks last night, chatted, and laughed A LOT! This morning, they came from their hotel so Jason could take them to the airport to head for their honeymoon. Nope, they aren't married yet, they just want to make it to Japan for the cherry blossoms that are blooming right now. Their wedding is not until June. So, I'll see them again in 2 weeks when I pick them up. Hopefully I'll get pictures then too.

Off to my day to work in Kev's preschool. Yaaaaa hooooooooooooo! (Do you sense the sarcasm?!?!?)

Fab Photo Friday

Gosh, I love these little spring chickadees!!!! Old pic, but still darn adorable!

Penny for your thoughts?

Few things

The weeks and weekends are overwhelmingly busy, and somehow manage to be borrrring too. How is that? I dunno, it just is. Here's happenings here lately, with many many missing photos, but hey, oh well.

Pajama Day for Kev. First one for him, and he rubbed it right in Juliana's face. Yup, little things like that tick each other off. Finally, he is experiencing things that she boasted about. Both of them are slowly finding out that pajama days, birthday parties, school work, play dates, etc aren't as special to brag about as they used to be. Days like PJ day are fun for me to take pics though. Therefore, I'm a happy mommy.

A visit to Nana Marie's house. The old joke that I was almost as tall as her is now the joke with Juliana. I didn't realize a conversation about height could take up so much time and make us all break the tension, but it worked. Yes, I said tension. This is the tough time of year for Nana Marie. March 28th would have been Danny's birthday (her son). Also, if you know me for more than 30 minutes, you know that April 9th is a sad day for my family, especially Aunt Marie. And then her birthday is April 28th, which should be a special day, but that is also the day that Danny earned his angel wings. Ughhhh, March and April are rotten, horrible times for Marie. We are pretty much the only family that has stuck by her, even when she is down, and she appreciates every second of our visits. Makes me feel good to make her smile, and for my children to make memories with her, like I did as a child.

On a MUCH brighter and funny note... this is what I saw this morning while walking with Kev. Yup, the ducks decided that they'd take a mornin' swim in our pool. Thanks guys, just no poopin' please!

Kev on our walk. He looks calm and the mood looks tranquil, but let me write a short letter below to explain that looks can be deceiving.

Dear old witchy lady, if your dog is known to bite children, please put a muzzle on the damn thing instead of lecturing my child for trying to pet it. Apparently your dog is cute, but is really a monster. Also, if you feel the need to lecture any other child about your dog, BEWARE OF PARENT BITING YOUR HEAD OFF, and don't be so concerned with your monster dog. Thanks.

(FYI- Kevin was not bitten, he was yelled at by the old lady for touching the dog because he normally does bite kids. HUH?!?!? It confuses me why you'd walk your dog next to 4 different schools/preschools with a dog like that. Whatever.)

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful that we can jump around in the warming temperatures, and enjoy the fresh air.

Taken on tuesday. Happy kiddo!

Painting outside. Childhood at its finest!

First beach trip of 2010. Splashing in the chilly Pacific, but having a blast!

Very very Verde

These two girls are nearly inseparable. I guess they are like gold at the end of each other's rainbow. Seriously, it is wonderful to watch. Both wearing green today, and being oh-so adorable while taking a break from their tetherball game where they kick each other's rear ends. :)

Kev this morning at the park. His eye is much better. Apparently he got "magic soap" in it yesterday. Magic soap is the alcohol based stuff that sterilizes hands. He put some on his hands at school then touched his face. OUCH! He's fine as you can see.

Last year, March 17th. Two besties! Just thought it was another adorable pic.

I'd rather be...

Little man would much rather be

doing this,

rather than being at home with a tissue on his red eye. Who knows what's going on with his eye, but at the moment, it doesn't look too healthy. It could be from all the crying from leaving school, it could be from pink eye, it could be from... uhhhh, no idea. I hope to figure it out and return to goofing around at the park reeeeaaaalllly soon.

A day for Rosebud

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

We are having a fabulous dinner tonight with our family of four, mom, my mom's best friend, and my friend Meara too. It'll be such a great night! VEGAS in April will be the real celebration for mom's birthday. I can't wait!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! LOVE YOU!

GOD, who's that?

I am kind of opening myself up a wee bit by posting this, but I will anyway. This post comes a day after a facebook posting that said, "The feeling of the church being mad at me isn't comforting. OOPS!" The reason for that posting you ask?!?! Well, Juliana is in Faith Formation (aka Catholic sunday school) for her First Communion in May. Apparently, last wednesday she was supposed to made the Sacrament of Reconciliation. HUH? I had nooooo idea. Don't get me wrong, I knew that the sacrament was occurring, I just thought it was for 4th graders, not those preparing for first communion. I did my first communion in 2nd grade and reconciliation in 4th grade. Needless to say, we were not in attendance on wednesday. Sooooo, yesterday I get a phone call from the Faith Formation leader telling me I need to be more responsible for my actions as a Catholic and as a parent. She mixed in niceness with complete rudeness. It really bothers me. The end result is that Juliana is making her Sacrament of Reconciliation on sunday with the older children. I'm mixed about this whole thing.

I feel like I am the only one in this world that doesn't run to God for the good, the bad, or the ugly. Yes, my children are being raised Catholic, yes they "know" God, I just don't know how to make him a part of my life. Honestly, I do not really care either. Is that horrible? (That is a rhetorical question, so don't answer it!) I often wonder if cattle or ladybugs have religious experiences. Do they pray? Where do they go on sundays? Where is their Bible? Are they working on going to Heaven too? Just curious. Humans are the only species that practice a religious experience. I just do not get it. I want to get it, but I don't.

Do not get me going on the social aspects of religion. That part of it reeeeeally gets my blood boiling!

Take 10 on the 10th

I randomly scrolled down the 26,782 pictures that I have in iphoto, and this is what I clicked on. To be perfectly honest, I did randomly click on a picture with a certain someone showing their pregnant belly, but I decided not to post that one. That is the only one that I passed up. Otherwise, here are some random pictures that you probably have not been OH-SO privileged to see. Haaaaa!

Juliana playing at a park where I used to play as a kid. Taken in 2007, I think.

Kevin being silly. Taken in our living room in Michigan, early 2007, I guess.

WHO KNOWS?!?! I know it is Kevin, but have no idea when or where.

On our way home from my mom's house. Taken in 2008.

I think this was Capitola, CA in Sept. 2008.

Juliana's nursery. That's right, she got bubblegum pink walls!!! Taken in 2003.

Kevin with his cast. Taken May 2008.

Disney World 2005. Juliana was terrified of Goofy.

Throwing mud in Santa Cruz. Taken in 2008 I think.

Kev eating a cupcake, but I'm not sure if it was for a birthday or not. He looks part adorable and part evil in this pic.

Whoaaa, that was fun! Probably not for you, but it was for meeeeeeeeeeeee!

California Adventure

Juliana and I are back from our loooooooong car trip to San Diego. We left on thursday evening to head to my mom's house. The next morning at 3:45am, I hear "beeeeep beeeep", the sound of the alarm clock. We headed out the door at 4:55am. Here are a few pictures of our trip...

Our first stop, San Juan Capistrano Mission. It is past Los Angeles, yet before San Diego. Beautiful mission, beautiful little city. We had a yummy-for-our-tummy lunch there too. Pictured is Grand and Juliana at the mission.

Coronado, CA. It was absolutely gorgeous! We were there 4 years ago for my brother's wedding, so we returned for a few memories. LOTS o' FUN! Pictured: Me n' my girl.

At the "Del". The Hotel del Coronado has been a pish-posh, ritsy hotel for the rich and famous for about 100 years. It is a gorgeous place. I let Juliana try a kiddie cocktail, her very first Shirley Temple. She took one sip and nearly cringed. She has never had soda, so I should have known. She hated it, but I thought I'd be a good mom and let her try. I had no problems finishing it for her.

The reason for the trip, my sister-in-law's baby shower. Nobody had any idea we were coming. It was a lot of fun! Baby Cristian already has everything in Target and Babies R Us. There are still two more HUGE showers coming up. Whoaaaa!

After we left the shower, about 20 min south of San Diego (VERY close to the Mexican border), we headed back toward home. We drove back through San Diego, through Los Angeles (not a good idea on Oscar weekend), through Santa Barbara, and ended up staying in Santa Maria. Santa Maria is where Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is located. We stayed overnight there, and headed home. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to go this route which meant 528 miles of driving just today. Baaaaaaaaad idea because of the amount of driving today, but fabulous idea because of the views. The hills are perfectly green, the cattle are fat n' happy, the sheep were scampering in the hills, the poppies are in full bloom... just a wonderful trip! Glad to be home though.

Outta Here!

Two of us (not tellin' which two) are heading out of town today for a few days. The trip was off, then on, off again, and now on again. Heading out tonight. The end result is a surprise for someone at our destination, soooooo shhhhhh. No facebook comments please.

(Not so) Way Back Wednesday

and many many more

It's a big day in my family. My Granny is 93 years young today. We went to see her on saturday. Her birthday card said, "and many many more", and her response was, "Oh dear, please no!" with a grin on her face. She certainly isn't the active woman she used to be, but she is still vibrant, loving, giving, and full of kisses for her great-grandchildren. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANNY! (picture is Granny and Kevin a few years ago)

Today, my Dad celebrates his 67th birthday. I hope he has a great one too! (picture is Juliana and Grandpa at the San Francisco Zoo in 2004.)