More Birthday Pics

Shawn my big helper and Neya the Birthday Girl

Neya the Birthday Girl showing off her cute little smile

Rian sliding down the slide for the MILLIONTH time

Neya and her friend Kelsie

Neya and her boys, Seth and Josiah

Carina and the cutest little girl ever...Hannah

Neya, Katie, Seth, Kelsie and even Rian (thanks shawn) posing for a pic by the slide!

Katie climbing on the slide :)

The whole birthday sleepover gang!

Swimming in the 'Copa!

Neya's 6th Birthday "Sleepover"

So here is how it all went down. The weekend before Neya's birthday (the first weekend that RC was gone) she asked me WHAT we were going to do for her birthday. Well, actually it was more of a "do you even know it's my birthday" type of question. As my first weekend with RC gone I realized...I NEED TO STAY BUSY! So off we went to the stores to get invites, decorations and other stuff that of course we probably didn't need but I felt of course that we had to had. SUCH AS, goody bags, noise makers, birthday hats, Neya's own princess hat and so on. I decided why not do a sleepover so....off went the invitations and in came the RSVP's. The one thing I forgot in the midst of it all...HELLO...I WAS ALONE! Haha. It was the one weekend ALL my friends had plans out here so I had to go at it alone. LUCKY for me Shawn had some stuff going on on this side of town and he headed over before the party (brought us our fave mexican food) and even helped with the trip to the park. PHEW.

The day of the party we woke up EXTRA early and headed off to the stores to pick up the last of the snacks and even pick up balloons so that everyone knew where we lived. Of course, of course something not necessary but I felt we just had to have it. Birthdays are always the fun part.

During the party we had 8 kids in our house and 2 grown ups for half the time. Shawn left just after a few rounds of Freeze Dance (I think the Alvin and the Chipmunks soundtrack got to him) and the kids were just getting started. They played outside, they played tag AND hide and seek and they also watched a movie and of course had cake, candy and popcorn! The whole night was great, they were up at 545am..yep you read that right and actually they were in great spirits. We had donuts for breakfast, well Carina and I had potatoes and bacon. Haha chubbies! All in all the night and day was great. After everyone left at 9 we went for a 3.5 hour bike ride and that ended our second weekend without our beloved hunny and dad.

Here are some pics. Enjoy!

Our 6 Year Old!

Out little girl is so grown up now! She turns 6 years old today, literally, because it is 1am in the morning! I didn't think I would be so excited for this day but it amazes me the joy that she has turned into. Of course she is still Neya so she has those moments where you roll your eyes at her new temper tantrum, but then just like that, she can crack a joke or a little smile and make you forget all about the temper tantrum.

In the last year she has grown up so much, she has started school, she has learned to spell her name, learned her address, learned to READ, made a ton of new friends and become VERY independant. She has (as you have all read) learned to ride a bike and tonight she will have her first official birthday sleepover, which means she is now to cool for just the normal family shindig!

Neya has always been a free spirit but more so than ever she doesn't let anyone dress her, do her hair or have her act in a manner that just isn't 100% Neya. She tends to beat to her own drum but that drum is making wonderful music everywhere she goes. We love her more than words can express and like all of our kids she has made our life what it is today. She has helped to make our family that much better and I can't wait to see how she grows in the years to come.

We love you Laneya Marie Hernandez...Happy 6th Birthday!

Losing the battle...

It is Monday night and the day didn't seem to bad until of course I left 15 minutes late. Got to Rians daycare just in time and well to make me smile Carina preheated the oven for her unhealthy dinner of choice. Frozen pizzas! I cook them and slowly the night went downhill. Rian took 2 bites then cried till I put him on my lap (I wouldn't normally but my head was already fuming and I lost all patience) and then I proceeded to shovel 3 pieces of pizza (small but shoot...3 pieces) and a bowl of salad (to even things out) into my mouth in hopes of going into a food coma and waking up with a husband by my side and the kids all sweet and perfect. Ha. I know...not gonna happen!

Anyways, we got done eating dinner and I decided to call despite my inner voices telling me to do bath time first and then the night got even more fun. I put the kids in front of the camera, went to go fix something in the car and Rian started crying again. Ugh. I love my son...tons...but he couldn't get anymore attached to me unless the umbilical cord was still dangling off of him. It has gotten worse since I'm the only one here! Now most days I would love it but honestly on my no patience days it just makes me feel more incompetent every time he cries. So needless to say I decided not to fix my car and continue with our night. Came back in the house, calmed him down and then thought "hey I will put the laundry away". Ha. He cried the second he realized I wasn't in the room. What the heck! My normally independent son had lost it. He is off his rocker and his crybaby side is coming out. Some how I must put a stop to it! Hehe.

I caved. Came downstairs. Calmed him down again, hung up the call with RC sometime during all this...went to have all the kids do shower/bath time and voila...dog crap on my carpet. Now I can't make excuses and say we don't know which dog cause we already gave my dog away! So that leaves me angry with RC for leaving his dog that already drives me crazy with me. Sometime from when I got home today, bath time and the three million times she went outside inbetween there to use the restroom our lovely dog managed to crap on the carpet. Ha. Classic. This was really the topper after the night before of 2 middle of the night wake up calls. One from Charlie whining at 1245 (just 10 minutes after I fell asleep) and the second at 217 when Nikki decided to barf! Ugh.

Of course tonight I called RC laid into him about the two animals he left are his, how much I hate them etc and when he said what I did (but actually didn't) want to hear "i will figure out a place for the animals" I instantly felt bad. I do love our animals but I know we can't take them to where we are going to stay in CA and I guess I just feel like right now someone somewhere is laughing at me and saying 'so you think your supermom...don't kid yourself!'

Every day a million people ask me how I'm doing and I tell exactly 3 people the truth. I even find myself sugarcoating it to RC (who now is reading about my dishonesty most likely) to spare his feelings and make him believe we are good. Truth be known I well up with tears when I talk to him and have to say goodbye, I cringe when people say I'm doing great and I laugh internally when I think about how long we have to go. Gosh, what a sissy I am. There are military wives out there who do this their whole life and don't complain.

Okay. Now that I am done venting I am going to get back to the real world. Quit writing my email blog and tend to the kids. Suck it up Andrea! Take a break tonight. Binge eat and start again on the right foot tomorrow :)

Hugs,
Slightly Insane Husbandless Wife!

Our First Weekend Minus Daddy!

So Friday was a very welcome friend as far as my body and mind were concerned until of course it became a reality. So let me just lay out the weekend so far, starting with Friday!

Friday morning we all woke up a bit late, the girls mostly but I was about 10 minutes behind, no worries, usually I can pick up those extra minutes in the time it takes me to get ready so I wasn't really worried. I went to wake up Carina and she almost jumped out of bed when she realized it was 623am. Do note, a 10 year old once they realize what a straightener and blow dryer and hair accessories are takes about an extra 20 minutes to plan out their "look" for the day. UGH! So she gets ready I finish getting ready, Rian is still fast asleep and Neya, well, she is TRYING to get up. We have had a pretty good routine so I'm not to worried about her at this time, but Friday she tested me. First tears, first frustrated "please do this for mommy without a fuss" conversation and after about 15 minutes she was dressed and even had her hair brushed! WOOT! Rian on the other hand had his first breakdown and I think that is when I realized I was going to have a rough day. He cried the entire time I got him dressed, the entire time I got his bag for school ready and only stopped when I put him in the car because I played peek-a-boo. The good news. The girls got the rest of their stuff ready before I left and I actually only left 5 minutes later than normal so I figured it wasn't TOO bad, all things considered. THEN I showed up at daycare and realized CRUD! I forgot the diaper bag. Of course after my already odd and husbandless morning the word crud wasn't the first one out of my mouth but hey, we sometimes have young bloggers reading this thing so I gotta keep it at least PG. OKay so I have to head all the way back home, get his bag, which is I feel, laughing at me as it sits so patiently on the kitchen table. The girls are still doing great so I can be thankful for that, head back to Rian's daycare go to drop him off and OF COURSE he cries. He hasn't cried in I don't know how long now but he cries. Makes me feel HORRIBLE and add to the stress of my day and now I am 30 minutes late, feeling guilty and rushed but hey, off to my car I head to pretend like it will get better at work.

I get to work. It goes. Slow. Stressful and then it's over. Nothing eventful.

I head home because I had planned a couple days prior to go to our friends house so we didn't have to wait up TOO early for Pat's Run (more to come later) but that changed when I realized it was my sisters last night here so we were going to stay with her and hang out. OF COURSE, that changed when she texted me at 545 to tell me her and her man were going out. UGH. I swear. I know I shouldn't have cared but I instantly felt 2 emotions. ANGRY and SAD. I was angry because we cancelled our plans and they made their own and sad because it felt like she didn't care that she wasn't going to see us for the night before she left. Needless to say I will spare you the details and just say we spent about an hour together and then off they went. Se la vi. It happens. The good news is that the girls were great that night, we had fun and I even splurged and got McD's.

I talked to RC and I finally broke. I realized for the first time that whole week that I was making it just fine because most the week had gone according to a plan. I didn't have time to realize he wasn't home or with us or there by my side. Of course I knew, because every night I wanted to find a reason to have Rian sleep on his side of the bed (which he has only done 1.5 times...I moved him mid sleep the second night) and of course when I wake up and want to give him a kiss and he is gone. I underestimate how hard it is to not have your best friend with you at all times that you aren't working or running around and I take for granted how he makes me laugh or can make me feel better when I'm frustrated. Of course we have phone calls but that almost makes it worse as I realize that is ALL we have. I suppose it get's easier but I think with as much as we truly rely on one another for me, having my best friend gone will only get harder. Ugh. Only time can tell I suppose. IN the meantime I am trying to keep our family busy and the hecticness alive and THAT leads us to Pat's Run!

A while back we signed up with Troj and his fam and it was to be me and RC and him and ASH and we were only going to take the boys as the girls were going to do a sleepover. Well RC left obviously and that left us with an extra number so we decided to let Carina take that number (she was excited) and to have her push Neya (she was not excited about that). Matt and I were going to run, well at least try and Ash and Carina were to trudge it alone. We had great plans to get ready early and to my surprise we actually did. I was up at 415am after not being able to sleep the night before (Friday left me in a whirlwind) and the kids were up at 445 and 5. They were staggered which helped me get everything together. We were in the car by 518, at the gas station by 520 and at the Troj house by 544, which was actually a minute earlier than we said we would be there! WOW. I was in shock. We headed up just shy of 6 and we got there around 645 or so ( I wasn't looking at the clock) We got all the kids settled and in strollers and put our numbers on and off we went. OMG. what came next was probably the ONLY stressful part of the day and that was that we got to the start line and had to wait for each section to go across the finish line before we could move up (strollers were at the WAY back) We got to the area at 7 and we got to actually CROSS the start line at like 757am. Which meant we had a whole hour where we had to entertain our two little ones, not to mention my two bigger ones. Oh the joys. Anywho, once the race got started it was all great, we finished in "okay" time, nothing like when I ran the half a couple years back. Matt and I finished with 13 minute miles and Ash and Carina finished with 19 minute miles. Not to bad for run/walking. Hey next time will be better hopefully! Not to many details other than it was a great thrill to run/walk the 4.2 miles and then end up on a football field on the 42 yard line. VERY COOL.

Today we are headed off to Maricopa for a BBQ with the Landers Crew and that should be fun, probably not relaxing, but fun. I say that because we want to take the kids either swimming or to the water park which 3 kids with one mommy watching them is mostly hectic, especially when one never wants to stay still! Well here are the pics from this weekend AND a video of Carina and Neya doing tricks on their bikes as well as the first Vid of Neya riding her bike with no wheels since I realized in a later post the video is just me being silly and not knowing how to get it to picture mode. haha. Whoops. So enjoy!

Hugs and Kisses,
Husbandless Wife

Woot!

So I have a couple things to update on here about. First things first, it is day 4, technically, without RC being here and let me tell ya. I put on a good front, because to see me or talk to me you would believe strongly that I am doing fine and that in fact it hasn't been hard at all. When actually, I am a wreck inside. If it weren't for my hectic schedule I may actually show my emotion or even have the time to have a nervous break down. Haha. I mean, it's not really that bad, the girls and I have gotten into a great routine, as have the boy and I amd to be honest I am lucky that I think they know me well enough to understand that they either help out or there will be lots of tears and yelling. Haha.

So first things first. My work officially knows that I am going out to NorCal. I was hesitant to tell them at first cause there is always two things that can happen and that is that you either train a replacement and get let go or they have you train someone and then find a place for you. Granted, I have been here for what seems like forever, but regardless you sometimes never know the decisions that will come about and that makes it even scarier for you talk to them. Good news, work has decided to find a spot for me, may be the janitor in our NorCal office but hey at least its a position (of course that was sarcasm). Actually I spoke with the owner of the company, one of my fave folks here due to his honesty and obvious passion see not only his company but his employees succeed and live his vision, and anyways, he said they are seriously considering a position equivalent to what I have out here, starting in our CA office! WOOHOO! How exciting would that be. I would be ECSTATIC. Of course it would mean we are a ways away from me being a stay at home mom, but it would also mean I could work and still feel like I didn't give up my whole career for this move. Not that I would entirely regret it, but it is nice to know I do have an option for sure in place. So yeah, that is the first good news.

As a side note to the work thing, last night I was deemed an "unsung hero" at our work which means that folks nominated me for a bigger award (PRIDE Award) but I fell just short was voted enough to be recognized. Its like the runner up award to the Grammy. I know, makes it sound lame but it was actually pretty cool and I scored a $50 gift card out of it. CHA CHING!

Okay now onto the REALLY exciting news. RC scored a carwash! WOOT! We were talking about how he would start in the Concord area but it seems that he actually found one in Napa which was REALLY cool. He will be able to have less of a commute, which is AWESOME, cause the price of gas is insane out there in CA and it makes it so we can look at some other areas as far as living situations. Of course I have to take into consideration where my office will be, where his office will be and then of course where has the best schools. SOO, it still leaves a lot up in the air but I am proud of him for getting it going and landing his first wash. So the Glass Company is officially started and he will begin to start the process, fall into his own rythym and eventually get some guys under him so that he can start to work in a true "manager/owner" type of role. WOOT!

So yeah, that is the deal these days. We rely on Skype and our DVR'd shows to keep us busy in the downtime and we got Netflix to so that when RC finds that perhaps he has no plans he can watch a movie on his laptop. Technology these days. AMAZING. Hehe.

That is it so far for us and stay posted as we are running/walking in the Pat Tillman Run this weekend with the Troj family!

To end this here is a pic of RC on Skpe with Phoenix, Gabe and Tiff's dog.

When in doubt...post pics!

Easter Pics, better late than never :) RC's Farewell BBQ: Last Day with Dad
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