Party Time. Excellent!

So this weekend we had a party to go and I must say I love parties. I mean I don't love not being able to sleep in on the weekend or having to drag all the kids down the hill on my rest days where I prefer to do laundry but I do love getting to see family and hang out and eat cupcakes!!! Hehe.

This weekend was supposed to be pretty low key, we were really really trying get the boat 100% this weekeng but of course, that didn't happen so hopefully by this next weekened it will be up and functioning. I will keep you guys posted :) What we did do this weekend was attend my cousin Martina's 8th birthday party! Ugh. I know I am getting older when my little cousins are now the same age as my kids and I remember when they weren't even on this planet and I was the 'young one' in the group. I tell ya, as Martina says "Time Flies". Her Birthday was awesome as usual and we even got to experience somethign he kids had never done. Outside of the bounce house, pinata, cake, food and other awesomeness, they had a zipline! Yes. A zipline in their backyard! You hung from the handle and off you 'flew' for about 25 feet. I mean I didn't do it (hello didn't want the thing to break...even though Marci assured me it wouldn't) but the kids loved it. Once they got over the fear of falling from the tree house due to not holding onto the handle. Haha. I have created some REALLY paranoid little kids!

Neya loved it and she went on over and over, Carina was a bit iffy but in the end was loving it and Rian, well I didn't trust him grabbing onto it from the tree house so I would drag the handle halfway down the line and let him hand and 'fly' down to the mat they had placed at the end. HE LOVED IT! I loved the smile he got but I did not love that I had to lift him up each time as that kid is solid as a rock and this momma has some super weak arms. Haha.

All in all the party was a blast and I am not sure why I don't hang around with family more often! Time to change that, especially I am keeping up with 'getting out more often' and not being so 'boring'.










Saturday night we went back to the boat, I covered the big seat that was looking TERRIBLE (along with all the rest) and we decided to make sure we get a good piece of plywood to recarpet and 'redo' the floor of the boat with. I mean this thing is a 1972 old school boat but it can fit up to 8 people (maybe more with as small as the kids are) has a sweet sounding motor and can pull skis and such so I can't really complain. Not to mention it is free. It may look a bit hoopty but I am down with that. Don't hate! Once we get the plywood in I will take a pic of the boat and 'show it off' but I didn't get any good 'before' pics so you may not entirely appreciate the 'after' since it will still look old and beat up :)

Sunday RC was off and we woke up with a plan and as the day played out our plan somewhat fizzled and we just let the day play out on its own and we were still smiling by the end of it. The kids let us sleep in, like...for real sleep in....we stayed in bed until 840am! GASP! That is like us sleeping till normal peoples NOON! Yeah we were already excited. The plan was to get a doghouse built, to fence up the backyard, to put shade up for Chloe and to then relax the rest of the day. What we really ended up doing was dilly dallying, getting showered and deciding we wanted to eat somewhere new so once we got into town and the kids had begged to eat at Big D burgers, we sadly declined and told them we were taking them up-valley to go grub out somewhere new. I have no idea whats up there but hey, anything is better than the same old stuff we always eat. So off we went! We ended up in St. Helena and I had remembered I place I used to go to as a kid that was a cafe/ice cream parlor and of course, it was closed soooo we had to have a backup plan. We walked up and down Main Street and we finally found a cute little panini place that was also a gelato shop. The kids were a bit stand offish until they realized it was just toasted sandwiches and of course, we could order french fries. We had yummy yummy food and although the interior had a fly or two more hanging around than i would have liked, the panini's were dee-lish as was the gelato. The kids also grubbed out and Carina was even shocked that she liked having lettuce on her panini. Haha. Baby steps! After that we walked around a couple stores, found some super cute baby shops and even found a sweet dog store that sells foofy stuff. We have a cap on spending as we want to save every penny for our upcoming Disneyland trip so Chloe only got a bowl and some cute treats and the babies in my life are going to have to wait for cute presents until they are actually here. Sorry guys!






Oh and Carina got feathers in her hair. She was SOO excited and although I don't see all the rage she has helped out a whole lot lately and I am glad RC and I got to show her some appreciation.


After the whole trip to St. Helena we did end up fencing in the area for Chloe but we did not put the shade up so she was in her kennel one last day and today is her first go round of being outside all day. Hopefully she does good and since it has cooled down I don't feel so terrible. I am excited to give her a bit more freedom during the day and it will help me not feel so darn guilty when we have longer days. At least now she can go to the bathroom and not have to hold it all day or have little accidents in her kennel :)

Oh and I forgot to mention. Two weekends ago my dad had mentioned that his neighbor, someone who has lived next to use forever was having a 70th birthday party. He had asked me to take a picture of his property thinking that would be a nice unique gift. Then we started talking about how I love photography and just some cool things I have done since I got camera that I haven't really shared with anyone (just editing or taking pics of special things and makign them personal that 'just a picture'). This got him excited so he asked me to do something special for his friend. I am pretty proud of how it all turned out so I wanted to share the before, after and final product (me standing in front of the guys property with the framed picture). The resized pics don't really do it all justice and of course you can't see how great of a job the printer did for me (Photo Pro in Napa ROCKS and so does Artissimo who did the custom mat) but man it really turned out great and how cool is it that my 'artwork' is hangin up in a house other than my own or my families! Hopefully you enjoy :)





Some cool videos from the weekend:

Carina 'hurting' the pinata:


Singing Martina Happy Birthday:


Laneya 'flying' on the zipline:

Hoity Toity...

SO the girls and I hung out with Lauren and like always we did something fun. I actually got word from Lauren that the musical Billy Elliott was going to be in San Fran but only on Wednesdays. SOO I got a hold of my boss, asked to take a day off (half day actually) and she approved it! WOOHOO.

I went to work in the AM and then that afternoon left, went by the bank, went to my parents house to meet Lauren and the girls and then BAM I was changed and we were out the door and on our way to San Fran!

I was worried that Carina wouldn't love it and that Neya would love it much more than she thought she might and boy was I wrong. Carina had a blast, although got lost a bit as far as the story was concerned and Neya, well, she fell asleep during the second act. haha.

All in all the play was fab and we had a great time getting dressed up and going to a play in the middle of the week. Man did we feel all hoity toity!




At the end of the day we met up with RC to go eat dinner and I had him take a pic of all of us, mostly because we are never all dressed up and looking good. haha. However, Rian was not happy to have us take a pic without him so he snuck in and then after all his fussing he didn't even smile! Darn kid!

Wowza...

Mommy can shop somewhere other than Target and Kohls...and EVEN buy stuff for herself! GASP!

Inside these bags is a dress, a cardigan and even some wedge heels. I forgot how much fun "mommy shopping" could be!

3 Day Weekend!

Life has been going at a million miles a minute but let me tell ya. This weekend was much needed. We had a lot going on and it seemed like from the second I got off on Friday we were go go going at a lightning speeds.

Friday: We got good news from RC's work. He was OFFICIALLY in his 3rd location. We have known it was going to start for a bit but were not sure exactly as to if it would pan out. What is that old sayin' "don't count your eggs before their hatched..." or chickens or something. But anywho. We waited it out and on July 1st he was officially in his first location. He was a bit unsure at first as the owner seemed a bit 'unsure' and 'up in arms' but seems that everything worked out and he has even been seeing good numbers and the customers are very receptive. He also had a new hire at his 'slow' location and turns out the location isn't slow it just needed the right folks there. They have been pulling great numbers and I say it's because we have an AZ Sales guy on our team now. He knows how to shmooze those customers! WOOHOO. So needless to say RC and I were going to run errands and head to dinner for a treat and a 'good job' and we had to also drop off Carina at her Nana's...sooo...we did so, then to my surprise the other two kids ALSO wanted to stay! So we headed out of Nana's (thank you Nana!) called up our friends the Snooks who were ALSO able to be kidless and we headed out to some mexican food and a margarita (or two). We had a great time, even stopped for a nano second at Gabe's friends art exhibit which was REALLY warm and humid but we did see some sweet pics. YAY us and even more so...YAY for RC who's still a great business owner despite taking on a second more permanent and stable job! We love you RC, you are doing great!


Saturday:

Tiffany had invited us to hang out with her and a couple friends to go hang out at the lake. I was a bit skeptical as I don't normally like to venture out with new folks without RC but hey, I need to have a life so out I went. We waited for Carina to get home and then off we went to the lake. We were only supposed to be out a few hours (till 3 to be exact) but then as they kids had a blast, we hung out and then the kids had even MORE fun we ended up staying till almost 11pm. I stayed and had fun, met some new folks, caught up with some old folks from HS (well okay, one person). The kids went on boat rides, played in the lake until some grossness occurred..can you say...leeches...UGH! Yeah you read that right. Leeches. I mean HELLO. GROSS. Someone said its probably from all the fishers, they use them as bait and I have NEVER seem them in that lake before so I am sure it was a one off, but still, that was enough for me to get the kids outta the lake. Haha. After that RC showed up, we met him at home, I showered, grabbed some grub to BBQ, headed back, ate, RC took Rian for a boat ride on Sam's boat and then we just chilled. RC and I even took part in a drinking game *our first time* and we played Flip Cup. Yeah. Thats right. RC is 32, I am 29 and neither of us has either played Flip Cup, pathetic. Needless to say we half sucked and half rocked. Depending on how much under pressure we were. LOL. It was fun, I will play again at some other get together. I didn't get too many pics on Sat as before RC got there I was more worried about watching the kids and making sure they didn't drown or get eaten alive by leeches (again...GROSSSSS!!!).

Sorry for the crappy camera phone pics!






Sunday:

We were having a lazy day at first on Sunday.

The plan was simple...

- Have Carina return from spending the night with The Snooks
- Let the kids play in the pool for a bit while I 'sunbathed'
- Get packed up early to head to town (with the dog in tow) and run errands
- Head to my parents to BBQ, watch Fireworks
- Come Home

***ultimately be stress free***

This is the way the day played out.

- Got Neya and Rian in the pool earlier than expected as it was ROASTING by 8am. I got to sunbathe for about 20 minutes before they argued over my chair and I ended up giving in and lettign them take it over while I cleaned. LOL
- Carina returned from The Snooks and that is where the stress begins. I asked them all to get dressed and showered.

Let me begin with...
Well we had an ant problem the last couple days (like 5-10 ants we spotted between ours and Rian's room) We killed them, cleaned, sprayed and didn't see anymore. We thought they were coming in due to the hot weather and wanting water. Nothing to odd for the country. WELLLLLL Neya blurts out "mom there are ants in our room". So expecting to see the same thing and be on my way in 20 minutes I realize. UGH GROSS. THere are ants everywhere! THis results in me having to then go through ALL the toys, and narrow it down to this. The girls had candy from the last day of school that had seeped from bags, into their backbacks and onto whatever else was around which made the ants come into the house and start to scavenge. SERIOUSLY. I am beyond grossed out by bugs so to even write that this happened in my house is oober embarrassing. Needless to say this took 3 hours to clean up, and take care of and we ultimately decided the girls are getting bunk beds so we can get more storage shelves so that their floor is clean and they don't have an excuse for being soo darn messy...

now, onto the rest of the day

- We did NOT go errand running
- We did NOT take the dog down the hill
- I did NOT remember to take the BBQ stuff to my dads

As you can see all my lovely plans went out the window. The good thing was that RC was able to get BBQ stuff, my dad already had some salads ready and my cousin and his fam were there. We grubbed out and while were eating The Snooks called so they headed down and on their way they saw Melody and her fam so we invited them up also. We ended up with a full house, and lots of fun. We had my cousins telescope so we were looking at stars and EVEN SAW SATURN!! I don't mean like we say a blip in the sky that we were told were at the right coordinates as Saturn but we REALLY SAW SATURN. Like. A planet withh a ring around it. It was awesome! My cousin and I are going to look into getting the attachment for my camera to hook up to the telescope so you can be a witness to what we saw as well. It was freaking cool. I almost left out that we focused on some lights on a hill quite a ways away from my dads house and saw some folks' deck while they were bbq'ing. Freaking funny.


We got sparklers from Petaluma and also some other fireworks and although the kids got the run of the sparklers we saved the bigger ones for later when all the cops were done trolling down the streets. We watched fireworks from the country club and all around had a great time. I gotta say, it did make me miss our AZ folks though since we always got together on holidays but I hope they had a blast withh their friends and fam like we did and I also hope they thought of us as much as I thought of them :)

So to narrow it all down. We had a crazy hectic Sunday but all in all we did a ton....and this was our new revised plan

- Wake up and go swimming/Sun Bathe
- Get Carina home
- Clean up disgusting Ants and pray they don't come back
- Leave 3 hours late and run no errands (boohoo)
- Purchase NEW food to BBQ
- Play Croquet...LOVE THAT GAME...
- Be peeping toms and watch planets...COOL!
- Play with Sparklers
- Watch Fireworks by real Pyro's
- Let off our own Fireworks (amateur pyros)

Not to bad for the 3rd of July :)













One of our little fireworks:


I forgot to mention that we also got a surprise from Martina (my cousins daughter). She gave Rian a sweet toy that she had. It is a huge pillow car and HE LOVES IT. I mean that is slightly an understatement. I am sure if he could take it everywhere he could but for now we have him convinced "car likes to stay parked at the house". Man he even tried dragging it into our bed last night!





Monday:

I was afraid I was going to have ANOTHER day without RC but this time it wasn't going to be soo bad as the plan was simple. Spend the afternoon with Lauren and the kids at the lake, rest then head to town run the errands we DIDN'T run on Sunday, head downtown, meet up with RC (after he was off work) and watch the fireworks. Well the plan sort of changed...of course...sheesh.

- Woke up, planned on heading to town to get water toys for the lake
- RC called, his work closed as no one showed up (woohoo!)
- Made RC get water toys and food stuff for the lake
- Went to lake (showed up 15 minutes later haha)
- Swam, ate and had a blast
- Went home, rested
- Left to go to town
- Ate at GOTT's (RC had never been) and got an AMAZING shake
- Met up with Sam and some other folks (lots of other folks) for fireworks
- Began to head home
- Rian spilt all the remnants of Carina's shake all over the backseat AND Neya
- Pulled over, cleaned up, got Neya changed into RC's shirt (which was totally innappropriate (NO our daughter does not want to grow up to be a brass pole..see the last pic for this to make sense)
- Head home to sleep ONLY we didn't get to sleep becuase Rian was up all freaking night

The day was really quite good but man were there some challenges. Some of the highlights were however the fact that Rian swam like a champ with his new floatie. He LOVED the freedom and the water and even loved the heat and all that came with it. The girls totally had a blast, despite the few meltdowns due to having to share attention but Carina swam like a champ, Lauren had a blast, RC and I got some much needed 'co-parenting' time and it was just a great day. The evening was great as well, I was happy to finally be able to take RC to Gott's and he was glad to have gone, especially once he got his yummy milkshake with Oreo's. I didn't get Oreo's but I did get a heart in mine :)
THe day wound down and so did we and although we didn't get much sleep last night I wouldn't have changed a thing about this weekend (except to have RC around a bit more).

So of course...some more pics and yes some are crappy Camera Phone pics.

Lake in the afternoon:

Heading up to the lake...awake and energized...















Heading home from the lake...worn out!



Fireworks at night:









Neya's attire after getting milkshake spilt on her:


And to end this blog I want to include three pretty sweet pics...

These two pics I was trying to manipulate the time settings and light capturing. I Had them in the slow shutter speed setting and I moved sparklers in the shape of well..hearts obviously. pretty sweet affect.



THis one is literally sweet. If you ever make it to Gott's try the Black and White milkshake it is UH-MAZING and you get a cute little heart on top (unless you get Oreos)