Viva La Ya Ya

I love these ladies. They know my faults, my secrets, my personality and they love me anyway. They give me strength, they give great advice, and when you need a shoulder or someone to listen they are all there. It was our biannual weekend away, and I laughed heartily and loved every minute of it. Bob, Moi, Booboo (and Nettie sneaking her head in the back)

We watched helplessly as the wildfires started to burn, and sent good thoughts to all those affected. *see my afterthought at the bottom*

The smoke eventually drifted down to the beach, which made me edgey. I couldn't help but fret over Mr. Boys little lungs, even though he was in very capable hands. Tami, Nettie, Bob, Moi, & BooBoo

Stef had family obligations, so she was in and out. So here is a pic of her and I together from last summer. I adore her, and thankful she hasn't moved with the rest of the Ya Ya's. She will always give it to me straight and I love that. Mr. Boy asked me if I went to a Super Hero meeting with my friends.... because as he pointed out "You came back ENERGIZED."

*Afterthought* I started this post right after the weekend, and got sidetracked. I'm glad I'm waited, because last night I was out to dinner with the kids and we watched 8 fire trucks roll by the window. The kids were ecstatic and the engines were from all over California. I'm guessing they were all just released from their duties fighting the fires. The fireman all looked tired and worn, but still had the energy to wave to my children who were ecstatic to see them. People on the street were stopping and applauding them. I am so grateful for the firefighters who risk their lives, and work until the job is done. I know there were firefighters who worked for days on the fires with very little sleep. I also know, that they don't exactly make a fortune firefighting. Many of these guys have second jobs. I am grateful for the people who risk so much to protect us. So thank you fireman everywhere!!

Madamoiselle, it's the school....

On Friday, while in the homestretch of prepping for my Ya Ya Retreat... I get a phone call from the school. "Madamoiselle, it's the school. It's regarding Mr. Boy. He swallowed a rock." *sigh* The joys of motherhood. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to assess the situation with the doc. It took a lot of detective work to figure out the size and shape of the ingested Rock. The rock was STOLEN from his teacher's desk, so there was some trepidation in admitting the truth. Then trying to figure out if the wheezing was a trapped rock or an asthmatic episode.

This morning, when we went to school and were able to see where he got the rock, I grabbed another one to put in his scrapbook as his "First ingested object". Hopefully, it will be his last. We were relieved to find the size was about half of what we had thought. Phew. I have enjoyed hearing from nurses, friends, and family all the stories of "This one time my (kid, brother, sister, cousin) swallowed a ______." The stories have made me laugh. Let the record show, that this story and all of it's embarrassing details that I won't post here, will be used for blackmail or humiliation purposes when Mr. Boy is older.

Sometimes, it's knowing that "One day I will look back and laugh hysterically at this...." is the only thing that gets you through those sticky motherhood moments.

It feels like Christmas Eve...

Tommorrow, I will be hanging with Nettie, Steph, Booboo, and Bob (aka The Ya Ya's) at the beach. We met 10 years ago, give or take a month, and have done girls weekends for at least 8 of those years. Shhhhhh... They don't know yet, but I'm not letting Bob, Booboo, Steph and Nettie go home.... I'm totally going to steal them and hold them hostage until we can agree to some kind of terms where they move back here and we live in one big happy compound.

Sports

One of the joys of having a child with athletic genes (thank goodness for adoption!) is watching their natural abilities grow and blossom. The kids attend a Sports Class to help them work on Soccer & Basketball. We love the coach and the class. We even enrolled AK into the class, which she still trying to grasp the concept of kicking the ball. My soccer pro friends will have to correct me, but isn't this the equivalent of "traveling". Also, don't you love that she's trying to play in Pretty-Princess-Glitter Shoes? Mr. Boy awaits his turn while he cheers on AK. I love to watch him cheer her on! And here Mr. Boy is "it" (hence the giant tiger on his back) as the kids try to get him

And AK, she loves the class for about 30 minutes.... then she is done. So she joins her pal on the bench.

Also, is there nothing funnier than watching 3, 4, 5 year olds run around? Each kid has it's own trademark run, I love it.

Mii

If you haven't discovered the joys of owning a Wii, you really must get one. One of our favorites is that you get to make "Mii's" They are video game versions of yourself. I love it, and the family all has their own Mii's. Mr. Boy loves making and tweaking his Mii, he also loves tweaking other people's Mii's like making my Mii Fat. It cracks us up, that this is what Mr. Boy thinks he looks like. No need to adjust the color on your monitor, his Mii is very dark skinned with Silver hair and sunglasses. Apparently, no one has told him that he is Irish and German..Also, just because it's adorable and shows Mr. Boy's true character. Skoopi is going to the vet tommorrow for the whole day. When I told Mr. Boy, he was worried that Skoopi will miss us and does not want her to go. He insisted on petting her and sitting by her for the entire evening. Eventually they both fell asleep on the couch together completely content comforting each other.
** Update: We dropped Skoopi off this morning and the kids gave Oscar-worthy performances. Mr. Boy and AK were in tears, there was weeping and there was wailing. For goodness sakes, she is going in for a checkup and shots, no big deal. Mr. Boy is so worried that Skoopi will miss us. In reality, Skoopi on the other hand gets to met other dogs, look at cats, and get rubbed down by several different vet techs. She is stoked!

You are all Invited....

Who: AK's Wild Party....

Where: AK & Mr. Boy's Room

When: 4AM

I heard footsteps, then giggling, lots of thumps and thunking. At first I thought we were being robbed and cursed the dogs for being useless. Then I heard music... that was when I knew the kids were up to no good. A quick glance at the clock to see that it was 4AM. I walked in to see AK making "a big nest with all our toys". Mr. Boy was awake but curled up in a blanket on the floor. AK was dancing around ready to start her day. There are NO PARTIES at 4am in this house! I tucked them both back in bed and turned out the lights for a few more hours of zzzz's. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the aftermath once the sun finally rose. AK has such a zest for life. When she wakes up in the morning, she gets out of bed and takes off running. You always know when she is awake, because you hear her running around the house at top speed. Mr. Boy, Mr. Man, The Dogs, and myself like to lay in bed and chill for a bit while we work up the courage to face a new day and leave our peaceful slumber behind.

Halloween - In Depth Recap & Analysis Part 2

So here is the crew on Halloween as we make our way to one of the neighborhood parties, notice Mr. Man is still in "costume" and Mr. Boy has made another wardrobe change. Oh my goodness, I'm actually in a picture! I love our street and our neighborhood... the big trees and the friendly neighbors. After dinner at the neighbors, we came home for a costume change for Mr. Boy.... AK has been living in her two sizes to small butterfly costume for weeks now.
Then we headed over to our friends house for trick or treating. These guys were a riot together and as adults we had a blast walking around with them.

In the past, we've Trick or Treated to our neighbors where we walk in say hello, and stay for a while. Apparently, we weren't teaching them proper trick or treating manners. On Halloween a lovely mature lady opened the door, and AK runs in and jumps in her arms giving her a big hug, nearly knocking her over! That is just classic AK, she will spread her love to anyone who will take it. Also, she held onto Peter Pan's mom hand almost the entire night. At one home, our kids pushed open the door and helped themselves to the bowl by the door, before the gentleman of the house arrived at the door. Manners are very important to me, and trick or treating helped me figure out where we have some weaknesses. I love how Mr. Man's head is covered in Pink Tulle, but he doesn't mind. He loves being Daddy to a girl, and I adore their sweet relationship. She knows she has him so completely wrapped around her finger.

Remember when you were a kid, and there was that one house that gave out the full size candy bars? There was a house that we Trick or Treated at that gave out King SIZE, the Holy Grail of Trick or Treating. However, Mr. Boy didn't care, because he got a Lollipop at the previous house. The kid is a sucker for lollipops! (Roll your eyes people, I just used a pun!) When we got back to our friends, we poured out his candy, and Mr. Boy enjoyed his Lollipop. AK is addicted to Smarties... and that leaves mom and dad free to pilfer from the chocolate.

It was a super fun evening and a big thanks to Brooke for hosting us!!

Halloween - In Depth Recap & Analysis Part 1

It started with our annual pumpkin carving. Mr. Boy sketched out a six eyed pumpkin wearing Devil Horns. We played a game called "Hide the Pumpkins" 2,000 times in the past week. Those little pumpkins are hidden all over the living room by one person, then someone else has to find them. Mr. Boy made it up, and it was fun and festive. It was still festive, however not very fun when the kids woke us up at dawn to "go seek" the pumpkins that they had hidden. We went to our church's Halloween Party, which was EXTREMELY well done. The kids had a blast playing all the games, well.. Mr. Boy mostly. AK just rolled around in the confetti. When the Confetti Canons went off, Mr. Boy totally hit the deck, it was hilarious. He's a bit jumpy. AK wanted a cupcake, and was very impatient of the idea of having to win one at the cake walk. However, her persistance paid off.

And her prize was thoroughly enjoyed... These are our pals who we love and adore. Mr. Boy proclaimed that he was their Knight in Shining Armor and they both just giggled and asked to be rescued at one time or other during the night.

Then onto Halloween.... I love this picture, because really this could be any given day at our house that I'm driving a Superhero around town. I love this phase... it's magical. And yep, he's having Skittles for Breakfast on Halloween. Mr. Boy let this serve as evidence that I am a VERY COOL MOM.
Here is Mr. Boy's Kindegarten class. This is such a fun group of kids, and Mr. Boy has the best time with them. Also, I cannot say enough good things about his teacher, we LOVE her.

Are you sitting down? I was shocked, absolutely shocked to learn that Mr. Man dressed up for Halloween. I think he has dressed up once since I have known him. Here he is.....

Any ideas on who he is? Actually, it's not that great of a pic of him, and I'm not sure what he is doing, but I found this pic and was enjoying a peek into his office. And uh.. hello Mr. Man can you please bring home that giant Jack Sparrow that's in the corner, it gets awfully lonely when you are gone. This next pic should help you with Mr. Man's costume.

Mr. Man dressed up as this guy at work. Apparently, people found it so funny they were falling over with laughter in the hallway and paramedics had to be called in. Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was very clever, and everyone enjoyed it, including the guy he dressed up as. This is a glimpse into Mr. Fun-at-work-Man... now if only I could convince Mr. Man to wear green tights and go as Peter Pan to fullfill my dream of going as Wendy from Peter Pan. Maybe next year.

Happy Halloween

On our way to a Halloween Party.... Mr. Boy changed his mind at the last minute and decided to be a Knight... which meant they both abandoned their costumes to wear something else. On our way to Preschool... Here is the Flash costume that Mr. Boy has been hounded me to get him for a year.

Halloween Afternoon with the Dynamic Duo.

You spin me round, round, round...

Can you pick out Mr. Man? It was Mr. Man's 20th High School Reunion this past weekend. I am baffled that I married a guy who is old enough to go to his 20th Reunion. That means that Mr. Man graduated in 1988 (see how my mad accounting skills come in handy.) It was the height of the 80's and to get Mr. Man in the mood for his reunion, I was singing and dancing to 80's songs while he got ready. (Might I add, that I was dancing to songs, that I heard for the first time on those TimeLife Series, "Rock of the 80's" flashback CD's that they were promoting when I was in high school.)

Even the kids got into it as we danced in the driveway singing our hearts out to Tainted Love and rapping out some Beastie Boys as he drove (or possibly fled) from home. He stayed out until the wee hours of the morning, and when I asked him how it was he said, "Rad." When I asked him how everyone looked he said, "Great, every one's hair was ya know... straighter. "

I flipped through Mr. Man's Yearbook and saw his picture under this club. I swear I am NOT making this up. I laughed for about 3 hours solid, and Mr. Man claims he was NEVER a member of this club.... but he is in the picture... top row, far left. I bet it was the hottest club on campus. Even better, listed as their key achievement this year was handing out lollipops. I didn't go to his reunion for several reasons... One of them being his reunion was $160 bucks per person, and frankly I thought hmm... a new pair of fab shoes would last longer than rehashing the good times that were had in the Reconstruction Of The Social Science And Debate Club. And the second being it was the same night as the Annual Policeman's Rodeo (aka I make a donation and buy a ticket, and then casually mention how fabulous the rodeo was when I get pulled over) So, I took the kids and we went and watched people get maimed. Awesome.

Mr. Boy waving his cowboy hat and cheering for some guy who is being trampled by a giant angry bull.

The sunset was lovely, and it was actually a good time. The kids enjoyed watching the cowboys, and they never really noticed that people were getting injured. They just thought it was funny to watch the cowboys "fall down and go to sleep".We have gone for several years now, and never seen an injury, but this must have been an off year. We left after an hour, and on the way out Mr. Boy found "The Horse of My Dreams" a beautiful Paint Horse, which Mr. Boy proclaimed he would call "Palomino Pinkus".

He's not a fan...

He's not a fan of Hospitals... Poor guy. He's never been at the hospital for something positive that he can remember, and usually at the hospital he ends up getting a shot or an IV. We were there visiting our pal Auntie Cinnamon last week. (She could use some good thoughts! We LOVE you Aunt Cinnamon!) Poor guy was nervous, so he decided to sit outside the room the whole time. He waited there so patiently and never complained once. My friend snapped a pic of Mr. Boy to show Auntie Cinnamon and then showed Mr. Boy a pic she snapped of Auntie Cinnamon. Very Sweet.

A Snapshot into Last Night...

We decorated pumpkins.... Love this "Mr. Potato Head" inspired Pumpkin decorating kit. Last year I decided that carving at this age, wasn't all that fun for the wee ones, they just watched for the most part. So while Mom & Dad carve, the kiddos draw on other pumpkins with washable markers. The best part is, you can wipe it all off with water, and do it every day. I think we drew on pumpkins every day leading up until Halloween last year.
Then Mr. Man came home to be attacked by an army dressed in Jammies, lucky for him someone tipped him off and left a spare sword by the door.

A Field Trip for me... erm.. Mr. Boy

Mr. Boy's class takes a field trip every month, and this month they went to a place I've always wanted to go.... To the Pumpkin Patch. I've always wanted to pick out a pumpkin from a giant field, but the draw of Trader Joe's $3 pumpkins have lured me away. So I volunteered to drive and be a chaperone, plus it's the perfect outing for little Miss Cowgirl, AK. I took a carload of boys, which meant listening to tooting noises or talk of tooting the whole time. These guys are such goofballs, but I enjoy them immensely thanks to growing up with brothers.

We loved the petting zoo. Mr. Boy said, "Mom, we need a big farm, with a swimming pool.... by the ocean... and the mountains... with a white horse for me." Keep playing the lotto Mr. Boy... maybe one day!

And I was shocked to see this....

We picked vegetables... And she looked completely at home wandering around the farm. I have been yearning for a farm for the past year, even dreaming about it.

And to prove that I was actually there... here is a pic of the three of us!

Quirky, a Tag

A tag from my pal Booboo to list 5 Quirky things about myself. The challenge is narrowing them down... I'm an Aquarius, by nature we are Quirky people.



1. Somewhat stolen from Booboo. I'm not a big phone person, there are a handful of people I enjoy long chats on the phone with... I've come off as very rude to several hundred people in my life because I will end the conversation quickly after "hello". Booboo and I have a fabulous arrangement where we leave voicemails for each other. It's brilliant... we can rant, brag, boast, or whine uninterrupted. Plus, my children constantly badger me on the phone. I've even had pretend conversations so I can teach them manners. Total sidenote, I was talking to Bob today on the phone and her daughter was repeating everything she said, it was HILARIOUS, and had me in tears I was laughing so hard.



2. I cannot stand the sound of ice scraping, it makes me physically uncomfortable. That's why I just cannot live in the snow, and I use that as justification as to why I'm not an Ice Skating Gold Medalist. I'm positive, that is MY sport, the one that I was born with natural talents at, but alas cannot compete.



3. On the opposite end of the spectrum, in Hot or Dry Weather I get constant nosebleeds. There is a surgery to fix it, but I started to feel like I would pass out when they explained the procedure. Far too icky to consider.



4. I was terrified my whole childhood of being abducted by aliens and I still get a little spooked out at night. My family loved watching "The Twilight Zone" & "Unsolved Mysteries" and I remember asking my mother if there was such a thing as Aliens after watching an Alien Abduction episode. She said "Yes, absolutely." From that point on, I was terrified at night that I would be abducted by aliens and no one know what happened to me.



5. I can not Hula Hoop. I have tried... but completely lack the coordination and the ability to do so.