Woah, what a day!!

So today was just one of those days, it revolved back and forth from, crazy busy, to fun, to hectic to crazy busy, to we are all going to go insane soon. It all started out with me buckling down on my family to get things done around the house. Everyone needed to chip in and help put away laundry (5 baskets to be exact). So I start folding and Tom usually puts clothes on hangers and he will hang them up, and I give caitlin her and christians clothes to put away. Yes I do know shes only 3.5 but we've taught her to do many chores around the house. In our house, we all help out, that means picking up your own things and helping to put your own laundry away, and where the dirty clothes go after you take them off. I'm still teaching that to my husband, but my daughter seems to be getting it pretty well. Anyway, so as I'm folding, my children and my husband are watching Dilbert. CAN U BELIEVE IT!?!? I'm slaving away (ok maybe not slaving, but still working) and they are watching Dilbert. I was so annoyed I started to yell at everyone! TURN OFF THAT TV NOW! I mean for crying out loud we have TIVO, what more can you ask. GEESH! Anyway, so I get most the clothes folded, I even start to teach caitlin how to fold her own clothes. I still have one basket to fold, its rather large, but the vast majority of it was taken care of. Then outside we go to do some yard work. The kids play in their newly finished play area while Tom and I are working on the dog run, putting down some weed guard and gravel, emptied the garbage containers outside, and weed whacked. I planted some flowers next to the shed, first I had to dig up the ground and get rid of the top layer of grass, that was a job and a half. Caitlin of course got into some trouble several times for 1. throwing a plastic gardening shovel at her brother 2. pushing her brother over into a pile of rocks 3. stealing his toys away. She just doesn't understand what shes up for when he gets bigger. He already hits her back AND he bit her on the shoulder the other day. I had to chuckle to myself because she is gonna be in for a big surprise, he's not going to take her crap much longer. So after that was done, we decided to head off to the Great Mall to visit a friend who works at Johnny Rockets and then do a little shopping. Caitlin was a handful the whole time. She was so excited she had to touch everything and kept running away from us. We had to keep reminding ourselves she's only three. But it still was fairly stressful. We stopped off at Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot and picked up some pajamas for Goo. We haven't been able to find him anything anywhere. Not at Target or at Mervyns. Do people not make 18 month clothes anymore or what?? We found a vast array of jammies for him in 18 months. WOOOHOOO. Tom thinks its really beginning to become our favorite store. We can leave there spending 200$ and clothe our children for the entire season, underwear and all. So after spending A LOT of time at the mall, it was time to head home. The kids were exhausted and getting more cranky by the second. We got home Goo napped for a bit and caitlin slept a little in the car. I head off to Home Depot (its way to close) and grab some groundcover, some climbing lavendar, an orange tree, and a lavendar bush. (yes I'm planning to plant it all) I'm so excited. I didn't get back in time to do anything with it, we had to get the kids dressed and out the door to meet Diane at 6 for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. We actually met up with some friends of ours from church. Jon, Kaye and their kids. Jon's also addicted to blogging, many more posts than me, but hey I'm trying to catch up. We get there, make it through the line after having to chase caitlin around the bar and finally strapping her into one of those rolley chairs, begging Jon to take one more child, he refuses fighting us off like the plague, we get to the cashier and Tom turns to me and says " Do you have your purse, I dont have my wallet" ok if anyone has ever been at the cash register and your S.O. turns to you and asks you that question, you know how I was feeling at that very moment. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. All I could say was "you what??" . He repeated himself and I was getting annoyed; remind you I just chased caitlin around the food bar so my patience was a lil thin. So I went the car to check to see if my purse was there, but it was not, I had forgotten to take it out of Tom's car earlier from when I ran to Home Depot. Now I'm paniced and starting to get mad. Yea Yea I know it didn't do me any good to get mad. I just didn't know what to do. Plus Tom always forgets his wallet, but normally I have my purse. So I walk in and tell Tom my purse is just not in the car. Luckily, Super Jon comes to the rescue. Flying in with his Visa Gold Card! He saves the day. He buys us dinner and we promise to pay him back tomorrow at church and bring him and his wife coffee from starbucks. I mean its the least we can do right? THANK YOU JON AND KAYE!! :) So we eat dinner somewhat peacfully except for Caitlin having an accident in her pants and crying because now she has to ride all the way home in wet jean shorts.

How does our night end you ask? Well Tom promises there will be fuzzy navels in it for me when we get home(get your head out of the gutter, its a yummy alcholic beverage), Diane laughs and offers us 10$ to buy schnapps on the way home, we laugh, telling her its ok. We get home, Tom runs off to frye's and to safeway to get peach schnapps, I get the kids in bed in record time, they crash immediately. But I hear a knock at the door. Who can it be??? Its Diane branishing a very large bottle of peach schnapps. What a sweetie. I think I might drink the whole bottle. :) hmm hungover at church tomorrow. Could work :)

My Dream Escape

Today as I was driving down the road listening to my daughter scream her head off, I was thinking what would be my ultimate escape. I mean you can't show me one mom, that hasn't wished that they could escape into a neverland, for just a brief moment. I think sometimes how nice it would be to be able to stop time for just a bit to unwind. I mean I love my kids and my husband but sometimes its nice to feel single and unattached for a small amount of time. But what I imagined as my dream escape was sitting on a porch, a white porch attached to a small beachouse with the back wall made of windows overlooking the ocean. Sitting there with the wind gently blowing as the sun was slowly setting and sipping a drink of some sort, probably a fuzzy navel(my favorite). No one present just me, nature, and God.

La Fondu Fun!!

Last night my friend Kristy calls and suggests we go out for the evening. With the day I've had I was all over going, the question was whether Tom would be ok with it. Funny enough when Tom got home he suggested I call up a friend and go out for a bit. :) So off we go to La fondu, not for the whole shabang mind you, just cheese and chocolate. But Oh my gosh it was so good, we got the Mediterranean Cheese : which was made with beer, sundried tomatoes, cheddar/swiss cheese and mmm garlic :) Then we got the Milk chocolate with Frangelico. mmmmm soo good!!! Our waiter was Dave and he was pretty kewl. He was funny and pretty much got us whatever we wanted. CREAM CHESSE BALLS! : ) We spent 2.5 hours there chatting and eating. We had some white chocolate mochas and some wine. It was a nice relaxing night. Of course we were stuffed to the gills and we didn't even have the meat portion of the meal!! We had to save room for chocolate!!

Welcome to Bonehead City, Population "ME"

Do you ever get the feeling sometimes that you are a complete bonehead?? Well I do, and today was the day. It started out to be a particularly uneventful day. I worked on some school work with Caitlin in the morning, got he kids dressed, breakfast, blogged a little and off we went to the park to meet our playgroup. By then I was pretty frustrated at the lack of listening skills my daughter was possessing at that moment, but nothing to serious that I couldn't handle. By the time lunch rolls around Caitlin is in full blown violent trantrum mode. I am on the verge of tears trying to get her into the car to bring her home and figure out what in the Holy Hell is wrong with her. I had to strap her in the 5 point car seat harness that is my sons and put him in the booster chair. Hoping she couldn't get out, alas she did and was running into the back of the van. My temperature was almost to boiling and I just prayed I could get her to sit still until I got her home. Finally I get the car in reverse and out on the street when I just begin to sob. Caitlin starts crying again while saying mommy dont cry mommy whats wrong. Of course at that point my heart is melting for her and I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what is wrong with her. She then begins to cry, what happened mommy whats wrong?? And all I could tell her was I just didn't want to talk right then. So I get her home and my son is passed out, I carry him into bed and come back to get her out of the car. So, I carry her into my bed and lay down with her. I begin to cry again, and she starts to sob, telling me its all her fault and not to cry that she doesn't want me to be sad. We begin to talk about her tantrum and how she was feeling and she kept saying she just didn't feel good. And there it was, it dawned on me. My daughter has an allergy to milk and milk products and has been on soy since she was about 18 months old. I started adding milk products in about a month and a half ago, because they say that kids may outgrow the allergy by age 3. So I took a chance. Apparently she's still allergic. The allergy actually causes kids to have very violent tantrums and behavior problems; such as hitting, biting herself till she bleeds, banging her head, hitting the walls, hitting others, yelling mean things to other people, and ADHD like symptoms. I feel so stupid for not realizing it sooner. Its been going on for the last 2.5-3 weeks that shes been completely out of control. I feel so bad for her, and what *I* put her through. I shouldn't have switched her, and kept things the way they were. I'm the mom I should be making better choices for her. I have so much guilt right now. It was the dumbest thing I could have done. Now shes sleeping peacefully, I think she exhausted herself. Thankfully this is easily fixed and I can get her back to normal. I love my daughter so much and I hate to see her like that. Shes was in agony and its because of me. Well off to whole foods when the kids wake up to purchase more soy products.....

Thankfully the girls in our playgroup I belong to was really good about it and they helped me get my things in the car. At least I know I'm fairly safe there and wont be kicked out any time soon. :)

Guiness Book........

When was the last time you had a babysitter call you to offer to babysit!?!? Well ours did. It was awesome, I was in search of someone to care of our kids so we could go to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Preview at the AMC last night. I was going to call the babysitter that day to see if she could do it, however I got another call from a friend of mine that also watches our kids. She offered to babysit for us!! It was great! I appreciate her so much! And to add to it all shes a great friend a blast to hang out with :)

THANKS LIZ! Your the best :)

What makes my husband special.....

He Gives me many kisses and never fails to say how much he loves me.

He gives me one night a week to recharge my batteries and doesn't complain

He encourages me to try new things.

He loves me unconditionally, in any state I may be in, cranky, mean, sobby....

He Holds me at night when I ask him to, even if its 3am and he's exhausted.

The look of pride in his eyes when he sees us at his hockey games.

Any time I need help with housework or chores he is there without complaint

If I need five minutes to destress, I can go off to sit alone for a bit

He works hard at understanding and listening to me

He supports me in all I want to do.

and lastly..... the most important thing he does....

He works hard so that I can stay home with our children....

Song of Sol. 7:10-12: “I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me. Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country, let us spend the night in the villages. Let us rise early and go to the vineyards; let us see whether the vine has budded and its blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love.”

Crazy Weekend...

So this weekend was so crazy. Tom and I had a CHEA convention to go to this weekend for homeschooling. It took me forever to get a babysitter for friday night. But finally at 10 am I found a babysitter. THANK U BRIAN AND TRACY! :) Anyway, so off we went to the convention. We had a great time and got some new insight on homeschooling our kids. Afterwardss we came home to find out that our daughter was a nightmare, and she threw up all over her bed. ICK! So of course we figured she just got her self all worked up, but later that night around 11pm she threw up again. She had this horrible cough that cough medicine wouldn't even get rid of. So into bed with me she came, and she was horrible to sleep with, she would cough and cry at the same time in her sleep all night long. So saturday morning we get up and decide that we shouldn't take caitlin to our friends house, just to make sure she doesn't make their kids sick. So we split up and I go to saturdays workshops alone in the morning and Tom went in the afternoon. So when I was at the convention I went into the market place foudn things I wanted Tom to look at then when he was there he walked down the isles and we talked on the phone. It was like looking at it together, but was the best we could come up with considering. So we go to bed early sat night figuring we need to get up early sunday to head off to church. At around 2 am I wake up with most horrible pain I have ever felt on the right side of my head shooting through my eye down the side of my head. I'm half asleep so I'm trying to ignore it but its just not working. I toss and turn until about 4am when the pain is 5x's as bad as it was at 2am. I roll over and tell Tom something is wrong with my head. He was asleep and cranky, so he yells at me "go take some medicine, wake up you'll feel better". He later tells me he thought he was dreaming. But I was so afraid that something was seriously wrong with me, like an aneuryism or something weird like that. I have a migraine disorder and get them quite frequently, but I had never had one that felt this bad. I've even been to the ER before for medication because I couldn't get rid of them and the pain was so horrible. This time I didn't have to go to the ER, ibuprofen worked but I have never had one that felt this bad. So I spent most of the day sleeping, I did get a few things done but my house is still a mess and I guess I will be playing catch-up tomorrow. Thanks to my husband for getting me lots of caffeine and iburprofen and taking care of the kids :) He's awesome like that.

Prioritizing Life

Have you ever had such great intentions but then realized that you just expect too much from yourself??? Well thats Me. I totally overbook myself. I tried getting organized with i-cal on my mac. I was doing great there for awhile then got to busy to add them into my calendar. LOL :) I need to get that going again. Because I can't keep track of anything without a calendar anymore. When I was younger I could keep my whole week in my head and remember it all, dates times, locations, who with and NEVER have a problem. Just goes to show I ain't young anymore. *sigh* Then I have so many interests and want to do so many different things that I just can't keep them all straight. These are all the things I'm involved in: Playgroup; so much fun, I want to hang out with these girls everyday, just not possible, as oddtodd would say suck-ay(he can be a bit crude but overall pretty funny); Scrapbooking, God only knows now long its been since I've done that, again suck-ay; Playing my flute; pfft.......no time to practice, suck-ay; Kids activities during the week, swimming and dance; I would love to co-op babysit with my friend Lisa, maybe that would help me to get my gardening done regularly; Homeschooling, I homeschool my 3.5 year old, this week we took a 3 day break. We start up again next week. Ohh gosh lesson plans......I gotta make sure I get that done; Have I mentioned I still have to clean the house, work in the garden, take care of the kids and blog. I mean its maddening. I have a homeschool conference this weekend and finding a babysitter was hell. :) We dont have family out here so figureing out what to do with the kids can get pretty creative. Well, anyway so my time is so limited its scarey. Today I watched a friend of mines kids, I had my hands full let me tell you; 3.5 3.5 2 and 13 months. Two of those were mine of course but man let me tell you they are busssssssssaaaaayyyy. :) They were a lot of fun tho, and I did enjoy it. But I can't imagine what I would do with four kids on a regular basis. I can barely get what I got done with two. Hmmm.....I need a gardener.......a housekeeper........a nanny.......a hairstylist.......and an onstaff teacher. That would do the trick :) So today I was suppose to go to capitola beach (*sigh*). I forgot I had to babysit. So I planned on going afterwards, but it took longer than I thought, and then I have to pick up my babysitter for tonight at 5 and make dinner, and this morning was swimming. I way overbooked myself today. And I'm completely bummed out that I didn't get to go to the beach. I loooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeee the beach. My husband is so-so about the beach so when I get to go I go. But its all my own fault, I overbooked myself. So hopefully Kristy (notice the "Y" chica) won't be to mad at me and will forgive me, oooh maybe I should bring her some ben & Jerry's or take her somewhere fun. I just learned about this kewl new restaurant from my friend liz called Nola. *LOL* here I go again, booking myself up again................ I will never learn.

To sign, or not to sign........ that is the Question

Its been so long since I've sat down and had a signed conversation with someone. I love sign language and I loved teaching it when I worked at HOPE. I have several deaf clients that I worked with. I also worked with someone who was deaf so I was able to get plenty of practice. My absolute favorite tho is signing songs and poetry. They just come out so beautifully in sign languate I've always wanted to sign. My first exposure to signing was at church camp in 6th or 7th grade. We had a talent contest and that was my talent. Of course I learned the song two days before I had to perform it and it was my first time ever being exposed to sign language.
I looked into several christian colleges that taught deaf education but ultimately I chose to attend Ohio University majoring in Therapeutic Recreation. I transfered there from Washington State Community college my junior year. After my second semester of OU, I got fed up with trying to get classes. even tho I was a junior I was considered a freshman when it came to signing up for classes. I never got the classes I needed. I became extremely frustrated with it and eventually quit and moved to california.

Four years ago I quit my job to go back to school to major in sign language.Shortly after I started I became pregnant with our first child. I was so sick I couldn't finish out the semester. And eventually stopped signing altogether. I do teach my daughter signs, and she has a pretty extensive vocabulary. Now I want so much to start again. I miss it. My friend Shannon, that I met through a mutual friend is going to school for sign language. She's my inspiration to get back into it. I miss it so much, so hopefully I can organize my life so that I can do something I love....signing.

You know the things you teach your kids are sinking in when.............

the police show up at your house because your daughter is practicing her 911 skills. I found the phone off the hook and didn't think anything of it and just hung it up. My friend shannon calls at the same time I get a knock on the door. There standing in front of me is a San jose police officer. I'm completelly speechless. And his first words to me are your on the phone. And all I could say was uh huh. And he proceeded to tell me someone called 911 and they couldn't get in touch with us again to confirm an emergency (probably because the phone was off the hook). I knew immediately it had been my daughter. The guilty party. She was playing in a laundry basket with a blanket and just sunk down inside to avoid our stares. I think it scared her a little bit which is good and he gave her a good explaining when to call 911 and when not too. I of course was mixed with embarrassment and pride. I feel safe knowing my daughter can call for help when she needs it.....now I just need to get her to understand the emergency part.

So last night I went with a couple of friends to the saddle rack to see Emerson Drive. I've been out of the country music scene FOREVER. Its mostly kids music or Tom's music. I need to fight for my right to my own music :) Anyhow, it was so much fun, I haven't even been to a bar in like ages. Mostly because its never been my thang. But now that I'm older it doesn't seem like much of a big deal. Anyway, the concert was great! I really liked their music and I actually recognized a couple of songs. I bought one of their cd's and had them autograph it. It was nice to see them up close and personal, some of them had a personality and the others were like "do I really have to sign one more cd". But I'm sure their tired and just want to get back to wherever it is they go to sleep. While we were standing in line we were being funny and giggly like girls do, when we look over and this girl in piggy tails and a school girl skirt was Lap dancing her boyfriend. I mean come on...give us a break, we SOOO did NOT come to view a strip tease. It was just gross. And she was working so hard to get his attention. Half the time he was watching the other half he wasn't. Where is your self respect for petes sake! Not to mention your modesty. Do they not teach that in school anymore?? :) So after the hootchie show, a guy walks by with his baseball cap on sideways and he looked somewhat gangsterish. It seemed very out of place in a country bar. So being bored while waiting in line, I tell Kristi she should ask him why he wears his hat like that. she laughs and says ok, then of course she doesn't. Then I up the stakes, I bet her 20$ she wouldn't do it. Of course who can pass up a bet right? So she does and I'm laughing so hard I think my ribs are gonna split right through my skin, my muscles are hurting so bad. And she was so good at seeming really interested in his hat and he answered all of her questions. but of course the only reason she got out of him was because it was the STYLE. Goes to show style never has a rhyme or reason :)
Anyway, it was a great time and I'm definitely going to have to do that again.

Kite Day!!

So I love to fly kites! My husband and I when we were first dating would go to shoreline, fly some kites then have a picnic near the lake. So much fun. It was something I looked forward to every time we did it. So today I'm taking the kids up with some other friends to do the same and have a picnic. Shoreline is awesome. Its this huge nature reserve, with a golf course, lake, kite area, dog park, restaurant, an old house that was placed there thats very historic, and tons of walking/biking trails. Its gorgeous up there, I will make sure to take the camera and blog some photos of the kids with their kites.

Best Buds

Best Buds
Originally uploaded by kabobbers.

they love to play together, here they are hunting for eggs.

Please Join us!

Please Join us!
Originally uploaded by kabobbers.

Caitlin doing what she does best, helping her brother. Sometimes its mutual.....other times he just screams for her to let go already! : )

Love birds

Love birds
Originally uploaded by kabobbers.

This is my best friend and love of my life. Isn't he cute!! This was at our friends beach house in Capitola during Christmas! so fun!!

Best Buds

Best Buds
Originally uploaded by kabobbers.

These are my kids, we were having a fun day at the park in the leaves. This is my favorite picture of the two of them together. Of course I took it myself :)

PlayGroup

So today was a fun playdate day. We all jumped on the train and headed off to the Martin Luther King Jr library. Umm....did you know its in a different location now?? Yeah me neither. :) I thought it was right next to the convention center, but apparently it moved 1.5 years ago to its current location. Heh, well I know now and theres a bit of a walk, not to bad, from the lightrail station. It was so nice out that it was a great lil stroll through downtown, which I never to go, and its changed so much. I can't believe how much nicer its looking these days. Anyway, the library is HUGE and its really awesome. They have a play area for the kids, with their own little personal computers set into these Little tikes desks. Its pretty kewl, the kids loved it. Anyway so thats what we did today then we walked down to the Johnny Rockets for lunch. My son was sitting in his highchair and as he was eating french fries his eyes were getting droopy and he could barely keep them open, Kristi and I just busted up laughing we couldn't help ourselves.
I've been hanging out with this playgroup now for about three weeks, and I love it. Its awesome. Everyone is so nice and definitely not overbearing like most moms/playgroups are. We were sorta kicked out/mutually terminated our position in a playgroup when Caitlin was 18 months old because they felt she was to overactive and she might hurt someone, *whatever*. These girls are nannies, so they are pretty down to earth, there is one mom in the group that has her son as well during the day. But they are so great about kids phases what tantrumy things they go through etc etc...basically they're realistic. :) Hopefully I can get my camera out and take some pics of the kids. Maybe tomorrow, we're going up to shoreline for some kite flying. Anyway, they are great girls and we hang out when we're not with the kids and its been fabulous getting out of the house during the day and other times. It makes life not seem so lonely when families live far away and your husband works. THANKS GIRLS!! Love you guys already :)

Posting for Liz

So this should make my friend Liz happy, shes a major bloghead and is always blogging. She posted my blog on her site and has threatened that if I dont blog more often that she's removing me. So to make my friend happy I'm trying to get into the habit of this blog thing. And especially since we were up till 12:30 last night working on it. I kinda owe her at least two or three entries today. :)

My husband is also a major blogger, he has over 200 blogs. I dont know if I will ever catch up with them, but its worth a shot I suppose :)

LIZ TWO BLOGS IN ONE DAY!! :)

Holy Moly, Its gonna be one of those days!!

So ya know when you have that feeling that your day is gonna be "one of those days" yeah I have that feeling today. I am the leader in our church for our nursery and 2's and 3's and lets just say I have a headache :) Then theres the challenge of my two little ones. Seems that one of them this morning has attitude for just about everything there is to have an attitude about(she says "your not my best bug buddy anymore" gotta love ms spiders sunny patch). And its been that way for the last two weeks, and it seems that everyone else is having the same problems. Must be the weather. I guess we can blame just about anything on "the weather". Poor mother nature never gets a break.
So now I have to figure out a way to not have "one of those days". However it seems the more you try the more apparent its just gonna be "one of those days". We are off to ride the lightrail down to the library downtown. So lets just hope attitudes get adjusted before then....including mine. :)

Blogger War

Ok so my husband and my friend Liz are having a blogger program war. One is saying I should use blogspot the other is saying I should use movabletype. Which would YOU prefer!?!?!? : ) Honestly, I dont care as long as its userfriendly and it looks cute! Isn't that what really matters??

HA HA