Just another crazy weekend!

So this weekend started off like any other weekend. BUSY! We had the following agenda...

Friday night: Concert/Bake Cake
Saturday: Prep for Neya's Party/Fundraiser for Jared
Sunday: Neya's Party

What it turned into was this...

CHAOS!

For the most part it stayed on track except that we totally missed Jared's Fundraiser that our friend poured her heart sweat and tears into! I am sad we missed it but it seems that it turned out fabulously and as usual she pulled off an amazing night that had all guests excited to donate for a good cause. With that being said our Saturday night was full of family. Rich, Frances and my little bro showed up and the kids were away with my Grandma Deb and Grandpa Pete a bit longer than we originally thought. We didnt have time to bake a cake so I stuck with cupcakes and lucky we had guests there or I'm not sure how after my million hour work week (never fails the long work weeks fall on the weeks that I have MAJOR plans) I could have thrown it all together on my own.

The PLUS side to this crazy weekend was Friday. I finally went to my very first country concert and I got to share the experience with one of my best friends, Carina and my mom. SO. MUCH. FUN. We had a blast singing, dancing and even giving some rude concert goers a little 'what for' when they tried to stand right in front of my oober short daughter. WHO DOES THAT! Needless to say we still had a blast.

I already told you about Saturday which was crazy but Sunday was probably the busiest day we have had in a while. We woke up at 7am and I swear were going till 7pm (well after the party was over). We prepped food, we made the final touches for the cupcakes, we cleaned up the yard (okay mostly the guys did this part who am I kidding) and we put party bags together, put candy in the pinata, cleaned up the house, all took showers and this was all before 11am! The party started and really went off without a hitch we even got to experience Teagans first 'lost tooth' which I must say was pretty awesome! Always fun to be a part of an unexpected experience with your friends.

Sunday night was a bit sad though, I had to say goodbye to one of my bestest friends in all the land. We have been roommates, we have been long distance friends and I think mostly we have been 'sisters from another mother (and father)'. We have been through so much together but even though I say we said 'goodbye' it was really a see you later. She is off to a big new city and a whole new(ish) career and just as sad as I am to see her go, I am more excited to hear about how successful the move will be. So in true Lauren and Drea fashion we went out, shared a few tears and perhaps one to many drinks and after she left I sat in my husbands lap and cried like a baby. Seriously. LooRen, we will miss you but we know that you will miss us to! Girl...don't let that big city change you and remember to keep your mind heart and soul open to all those new folks you are about to come across!

And now for the stuff that keeps you guys all coming back to the blog...PICTURES...YAY!!!!

Miranda Lambert with Lauren, Carina and my mom <3

We had such a blast and the weather could not have been more perfect! We had some drinks in our hands, good music playing and of course amazing company. Glad to say my little hip hop princess may be adding a little more country to her playlist! The added bonus of the night...the local San Jose country station was celebrating their 20th 'birthday' so in honor of that we also got to see Pistol Annies and Blake Shelton as well as the two opening acts Jerrod Niemann and Chris Young...and again I say...what a great night!!

Family Visit!

Grandpa Rich came to town early with Richie and Grandma Frances and they even brought little Gabe with them which was an added bonus.Due to us missing the awesome Fundraiser Tiff put on it left us with some empty bellies so we neded up in Vallejo to go to Olive Garden (and hit up Party City and Michaels) and the funny story of the night was that when Rich went to park, some guy stole his spot. Well come to find out the guy was our waiter! haha. So Rich gave him a hard time the entire night (in good fun of course) and the waiter Nick ended the night with a funny 'gift certificate' that said "good for one free parking spot" haha. Good dinner and great waiter.

Laneya's Birthday Party!

I of course had charged up my good camera because as I promised earlier I needed to get back on that sweet picture taking wagon, but wouldnt you know it...I left my dang Memory Card at work in my card reader. LAME SAUCE! I did snap a few pics on my camera phone and Rich and RC have more so perhaps I will post any good ones they were able to snag. Otherwise here are at least a few cute ones :)

Mine and Lauren's last photo together for a few months at least. Don't mind the red eyes, I want to blame it on the flash but I do believe it was the margaritas ;)

And here are a few videos frmo the concert, I sang through the songs so thats kinda all you here (sorry for being off tune..I blame in on the drinks I had) but I want to be able to have these vids on here to mark our memories :)

Visit from Donkey...

Not all to often do you remain close to your step parents once a divorce takes place but honestly I am soo grateful to have my step dad still around. He has not only been around since I was 9 but has always been around for the kids. He is a big piece of our family and I am grateful for all the time we get to spend with him. He goes out of his way to participate in our lives and always always ALWAYS makes time for the kiddos while also giving us some 'break time'. I appreciate him for all he does for us and we all love him very much.

Perfect example of how goes out of his way to see us....THis last weekend he had a doctor appointment in San Francisco, instead of heading home right after, he hung out in town, saw the kids after school and decided to stay the night and eat dinner with us. We have many people in our lives that we adore and he is at the top. Thank you for always being there 'Donkey'...we love you!

Little Late...Our Babies 8!

With all the chaos that has ensued I have not had time to properly document Laneya's 8th Birthday DAY. We of course were busy as could be but tried to make the most of it none the less. She ended up having a blast and felt like the center of the universe (if only until shower time that night).

Our little girl over the last 8 years has remained cute and quirky. She has a certain way of eating which pretty much involves griping over anything that has meat (unless its Salami, or Ham or a chicken nugget of some sort) and she is very particular about what she wears. If it matches, count it out. She has grown into a little lady, the kind that burps and sometimes farts and is proud to say it belonged to her. She has a hard time waking up in the mornings and can't accept that every night, no matter what, she must take a shower and no amount of crying and pouting will change it.

Now despite her rough edges she is also sincere, loves her friends, is adored by her teacher and of course by us. She is smart as whip and has about the quickest wit I have ever seen in a kid. She can't 'rumble' with the best of them. She loves her blankie still and has minor panic attacks when she can't find it and although some may say its a crutch, anything that keeps her little for longer is pretty much my best friend as well. She is happy to play outside, loves her bike and her new fascination is horses. She loves them almost more than her blankie. She beats to her own drum and to be honest, better that than falling in line and so long as she continues to keep that big toothy smile on her face and continues to dish out the hugs and cuddles I will forever be happy.

We love you Laneya and although your birthday post was a bit late, we didn't forget about you, just means we had more time to think about all the fabulous thing we would say about you :)

Birthday Morning "Donut Cake"

Birthday Dinner!

 Sorry for the demon eyes, didnt remember to edit on my phone first :(

Birthday Celebration cupcakes for Neya's school...

OUR 3rd Annual Pat's Run

So for the last 3 years we have participated in the Pat Tillman Run, a tradition that was started with the Trojan Family in Phoenix. Last year I ran alone in the San Francisco Shadow run and although its only 4.2 miles I didnt even make the whole run! Sad! This year I have only been running about 3 times a week on average and the time I ran Neya decided to ride her bike next to me. She did great and right after she asked if she could join my run on Saturday. I had informed her I didnt sign up this year and she was bummed so of course I went right online, got in touch with the Shadow Run Coordinator and asked if we could join late. He was happy to have me back and waived the fee. We didn't get a t-shirt this year so we used our first years shirts to show we were dedicated but next year we will be sure to not miss out, especially since this year they were my FAVE color! Laneya did an awesome job riding her bike, not complaining at all about the distance AND motivating me and kept me running the entire 4.5 miles (Mine was .3 miles longer due to a nice little detour I added because we got lost haha). This was an experience I will not soon forget and if work would SLOW DOWN I could look up other runs and get to training with my little girl!

Here are some pics from our journey.

The morning of the run :)

Neya was super cute in her helmet and the folks around us thought the same thing!

Halfway point we took some sweet photos with the Golden Gate Bridge behind us!

We both finished but I was extremely proud of Neya!

Videos. Sure why not!

Seems I am on a roll as far as updating the page so hey, I figure why not add some videos I had on my phone as well!

Phone Pics!

As I have mentioned about a trillion times I do not take my big camera everywhere with me these days, a habit I plan on changing here shortly. When I was on sabbatical I was trying to run and ride my bike and what not to get to where I was going which meant I packed light. Just got out of the habit (as well as slacked on running..I know..lame) and now that I am back at work and getting life back in order I think its time to keep up on the dang pics! With that being said I went through my phone today and here are some pics of things that we have done that I did not get on my other camera. ALSO...you would be surprised how much you forget you did until you really start to go through your camera pics. Who knew that many years ago when cell phones were the size of bricks and had a itty bitty useless green and grey screen that they would eventually hold your entire lives on them. Oh technology.

 Lauren and I took Carina to the midnight showing of Hunger Games

Baked a cake for one of my co-workers and then he left the company. Ugh. 

 Painted the doors on the kids shelving unit in their room

Rian showing us his sweet name writing skills. Such a proud Mommy!

Rian already being a gentleman and giving his sissy a ride on his 'motor'

Dinner with the Angela, Rico and Corbin. So cute!

Celebrated Teagen's 1st Birthday at the Czekalewski home!

Came home after the birthday and baked cupcakes for one of my fave engineers last day at work. Sad Day!

Rian having a chipmunk face as he calls it...we know it as...shoving his face full of food!

Carina's Open House where she and Neya got a book signed by Lisi Harrison, author of the Monster House and Clique Series (who knows if I spelt that right).

Taking advantage of all the sweet activities at the open house!

 Laneya's open house the next night and hers is awesome because all the local food trucks vendors come out and we get our grub on! Don't worry I did run afterwards to burn of the yummy cupcakes we had.