Friday night...

Had a great night out with the girls on Friday night!! Junior Seau (now plays for Patriots...former Charger) was sitting right behind us! We finally asked if we could get a picture with him and he was SO nice!

I slept all day Saturday!

Please stop....

I know I already posted today...but I just read this story...and I just had to put in my two cents...

To Bob & Michelle Duggar: Please stop having babies!!!

The Duggars have just released pictures of baby #19! Read the story here I'm sure they are a very loving, happy family....but having a 31 weeker myself and knowing how hard it is on the poor helpless babies....please quit while you are ahead. I don't know the circumstances as to why she had the baby at 25 weeks and I know there are a million opinions as to why or why not it is ok to have that many children...but please...in my humble opinion...stop having children! (Let your kids do that now and be Amazing Grandparents!)

Just my two cents...had to get it off my chest...

Picture of Chasey at 7 weeks old....5 lbs and smaller than her Cabbage Patch doll! With an apnea monitor cord attached! Which stayed attached for the first 11 months of her life!

Just another Thursday...

Yeah! I wish!! I'm usually sitting at my desk on Thursdays...but not yesterday...
THIS is where I was!! Hello Big Bear! I've missed you! It was great to see you again yesterday!




I'll be back soon Big Bear!! I promise! :) Wish I could have stayed longer!

I came home to a whiny Chasey...her "head" hurt...then it was a definite "MY EAR hurts...on the inside!" ....so I slept with her and woke up every hour trying to calm her tears....Went to the dr 1st thing this morning and she has a double ear infection. She is much better already...She's off to her dad's for the weekend with Cash.

Me....I've got a big GIRLS night! Oh how I love my girls nights! Actually going to a nightclub! Haven't been to one of those in awhile. Sometimes I still think I'm 21...until I walk in the club and I feel SO OLD!!! Oh well...us "old ladies" (old in a 21 year old eyes) still got it! I'll be putting my dancing shoes on and I plan to sleep most of the day tomorrow! :)

Snow Day....

I live in one of the best places on Earth!! (I wonder if Snapple is made here? It IS made with the best STUFF on earth, right? hee hee)

20 minute drive to the West...gets me here...

1 hour drive to the East...gets me here...

Since we had so much rain last week, James and I surprised the kids Sunday morning and took them sledding in the snow!! We packed up the car (even hid the sled under a towel) and told the kids to get bundled up...It drove Chasey INSANE that we wouldn't tell her where we were going!! That was the BEST part!! She did guess it when I told her to put on leggings under her sweats...but I told her she was wrong and she didn't know where we were going! Bad mom!
It was well worth the fibbing though! The kids got a sled from Santa (just in case we woke up on a Sunday morning and wanted to drive to the mountains...we didn't want to go "sled-hunting" at all the sporting goods stores) We did some serious sledding...both kids loved it and went down on their own. I don't have any pictures of the actual sledding because I got a video camera for Christmas and I video'd (sp?) it all and then went to the car and switched cameras so I could take a few still shots!

a small tumble!


I love this man.....for being so great to them....


I can't wait to go back....

After the Rain...

We play in the creek!






This is normally a small trickle of really gross water, but because we got 6 1/4" of rain last week, we had some "clean" water running though! I let the kids play for awhile...I just really hope there's not some random bacteria in the water...
I'm still alive and I played in tons and tons of creeks growing up! I would hate to deny my kids of that fun!

Fun...at our house....

This is our version of fun!
When Cash brings me a newborn size diaper (that I saved for Chasey's dolls) and INSISTS that I put it on him!! Of course I did it and we all got a good laugh! These kids make nights at home full of laughs!

my future plumber!

(that's a birthmark on his leg)



ps-He actually peed in the diaper in the 3 minutes that he was wearing it!! Stinker!

10 Things that make me happy...

in NO particular order...

1. This sweet amazing girl...

2. This amazing peanut butter eating early riser of a boy....

3. This "I don't know how I got so lucky to have him in my life" man....

4. Visits to Illinois to see my family...

5. Dinner with the Girls...anywhere, anytime, any place. (i prefer this...)

6. Nordstrom Rack

7. living in Southern California...


8. Finding a new fun craft and figuring out how to make it...

9. Watching American Idol as a family with #'s 1-3

10. Moving on....and this quote...
"Embrace the family you have, not the family you envisioned. We all have a dreamy picture in our head of what we would like our family to be. Most of the time, because of circumstances or choices or turns in the road we never saw coming, this is not the reality. As hard as it is, let go of that. It is just fine to grieve that loss, but it is more important to move beyond that to make the family that you have the happiest, healthiest and most secure that you can" (author unknown)

This...is MY family!

Rain...Rain...and More Rain!!

I think we are going to float away!
Growing up in San Diego...I'm a TERRIBLE driver in the rain! I freak out, I drive really slow and I panic when it gets to the point where I can't see in front of me! My dad was visiting one year (he lives in Illinois) and we were driving to Los Angeles and it was POURING rain! He laughed at me the whole way...he thought I was nuts for being such a baby about driving in the rain! I was driving his rental car and I even got rear ended...just minor, but STILL! It just added to my stress about driving in the rain!



picture from Fox 5 San Diego...because I am too lazy to go outside and actually take any pictures in this rain!

She's Crafty....

No kids this weekend meant...I got an ENTIRE day to "CRAFT!" It really is my favorite pastime! I think I love the challenge of figuring out how to make something more than actually making it though. I love the process of researching online....buying the supplies and then making it for the first time! The problem is...I buy enough supplies to make 100 of whatever it is so I will be making headbands and picture frames for awhile! :)

Thanks to this tutorial I made some REALLY cute headbands yesterday! I also made some cute picture frames that the kids will be adding the finishing touches to (flowers, hearts, etc) for all the grandmas for Valentines Day.

So cute! Thanks Tanya for the awesome tutorial!

Mommy Guilt...

I've got it bad today....I've just been "off". I'm pissed off at the world...I walk around in a funk and I yell at my kids too much.

I really have no idea what's wrong with me...I'm usually a happy go lucky person, but for the past week or so, I've really been "off". My kids are driving me NUTS and I yell at them WAY more than I should...James is wonderful, but I've even been mean to him. Not MEAN...but bitchy for sure. Thank god he can joke about it with me and he calls me out. If he took it personally, he would be out the door!

I know this is MY fault....but I've always let Chasey make her own choices when it comes to what she wants to wear...this has REALLY become a problem lately. Everything is "itchy" or "uncomfortable" or she just won't wear it for whatever reason. I pick out 5 different outfits each morning before she will actually put one on. It's not until I've lost my mind and walked out of the room that she finally decides on what to wear.

Cash got the brunt of it this morning...as I stormed out of the kids room after dealing with Chasey, I walked out to find Cash in the hall closet making a huge mess! Of course I yelled at him too and made him lay down so I could get him dressed...all while he was crying because I had just yelled at him. UGH! I wanted nothing more than to drop them off and get to work.

and now....they are dropped off...they have their car seats, the suitcase is packed...and they are going to their dads for the weekend. We made up (well...mommy snapped out of it) and lots of kisses and hugs were given at drop off, but I feel SO bad....they are only young once and I am going to WISH I could get these crazy insane mornings back someday.

Someday you will read this (that is...if I print a book at the end of the year which I PLAN to do)...and I hope to god crazy insane mornings like today don't stand out in your memories! I love you both more than anything in the whole wide world....

to be brutally honest...I NEED this weekend....I am glad you love going to your dads!

(this is an old picture....it was when they first started "going to their dads" for the weekends...It was for a flickr group way back when)

ps-I promise if I don't snap out of this I WILL go see a dr! Maybe I do need that "lexapro" that Grandma Jackie was telling me about! :)

I love Sundays....

Donuts...coffee...and the Sunday paper! (I still like to actually read the paper!...even though I've already read most of it on the internet!)

Shiny Sparkly Shoes....

I would have KILLED to have either pair of these shoes when I was a kid! Some of the sparkles on the ones on the right even light up when she walks! Love them!
I swear...My kids are SO lucky! AND spoiled! I guess that's what happens when you grow up poor...you tend to give your kids all the things that you wish you could have had! It's becoming a problem! :)

Thank You Cards....

Just before Christmas, we had Chasey's 5th birthday party. Several of her friends brought her gifts and I feel that teaching kids to send thank you cards is such an important part of life. Chasey fought me a little on it, but then she realized how "cool" it was that she was writing to her friends herself and she enjoyed it. It took us 2 nights to write 8 thank you cards, but that's ok. Her little hand gets tired!

James thought I was a little crazy having a 5 year old send thank you cards, but I think it's important and she's never too young to start doing it herself.

Diamonds....

Kids say the cutest things!

I keep a notebook in the kitchen and write down cute and funny things that the kids say...I have a piece of paper in the console in my car too. I used to always think that there was no way I could forget what Chasey just said because it was SO funny and SO cute....a day or two later....i couldn't remember for the life of me what it was that was so funny a day or two before. So...I started writing it down. Now with this blog, I can write things on here too...and it will forever be in blogland for me to look back at.

Last nights conversation between James and Chasey...

Chasey - "James, can I have a quarter?"
James - "I don't have one"
Chasey - "Can I have a nickel?"
James - "I don't have a nickel either"

Chasey - "Can I have a DIAMOND?"

Nice try Chasey!! Maybe that one will work on your future husband someday! haha

And here is a picture of her...because not only are the things that come out of her mouth cute, but she is so cute too!

Cool Stuff....

I work at a really cool place....We have about 300 employees and the average age is somewhere in the late 20's, early 30's.....and almost EVERYONE is into action sports of some sort. Because of this, we have the privilege of getting to try out new cool stuff. Today I walked into our main building and saw that someone had filled up a little fridge with lots of these little "juice boxes." Curious as I am, I tried one out...It's Zico Coconut Water. I'm not a big fan...but considering that milk does not TOUCH my lips unless it's dripping off of my Cocoa Puffs....I'm not surprised...to me, it kind of tasted like watered down milk. Everyone else loved it and so did my son....He's so COOL!

She's going to kill me....

When I saw her on the toilet...reading this book, I just KNEW I had to get a picture to send in for her Senior Yearbook...you know what I'm talking about...when the school asks parents to send in a baby picture for the yearbook!

Yes...this just might be in the running for THAT picture!

ps-she can't read yet...James got this book for his birthday...and it has some funny pictures in it! Quite an interesting read!

10 years....

I was inspired by another blogger to write about where I was 10 years ago…and where I am now...

10 years ago…December 31st, 1999 (I was 25 years old). Since everyone was blowing the whole “Y2K” thing out of proportion…we joined our friends out in the desert at the Peralta Ranch. This place was so much fun. It was an old hunting lodge turned into family ranch house. Complete with a separate house with lots and lots of beds in every room (formerly for the visiting hunters), a family house with food ALWAYS on the table (thanks to my friends mom, grandmas, sisters, etc!) and a bar/pool room where we hung out every night! The days were spent riding motorcycles, making funny videos and just goofing off. We spent a few New Years there and they were some of my fondest New Years Memories! Great friends and lots of fun! This was back in my “simple” days….

Wow…10 years later…

December 31st, 2009 (now 35 years old)….In the last decade I have had my highest highs and my lowest lows.

I got married…

bought a house….

pregnant…then miscarried…

pregnant again…

gave birth 9 weeks early....Took home a healthy 5lb baby girl 6 weeks later....

Started my own business….made many mistakes in business, but learned from every single one....

Pregnant again….gave birth to a healthy boy…

I spent a week in the ICU with HELLP syndrome after giving birth...(Thank the Lord for Modern Medicine so that I could be here today!!)...

Separated…then divorced….

with a newborn….

Found an amazing man and appreciate him more than he will ever know!

I would do it all again to get to where I am in life. I would in no way, shape or form appreciate what I have now had I not gone through this exact life….including every single bump in the road!

Just look at these faces....THEY make me realize that I have NO regrets and that I will cherish every moment I have with them in this life!