29. Wow.

It is always hard when your birthday comes around and you think. Wow. Another year older. Sheesh. This year not only did I turn 29 but I also have a full week ahead that is all based around my little girl graduating from her Elementary School and moving into the bigger, better, way more mature Junior High. My Birthday weekend was happy although I couldn't help myself and I kept letting my mind wander back to just "yesterday" when she was a little girl who still liked me and now I have a big girl who often times rolls her eyes at me, tells me how uncool I am and only calls me 'mommy' if she needs money or new clothes. Ugh.

So anywho. Onto my fabulous Birthday! I have got to first say I am certain I have the best husband ever. In the 8 years we have been together (FYI I was always off by a year when I referenced us before) I have never really had a great birthday, although I do recall one birthday weekend where my friend/coworker and a few other folks took me out and we had a blast. We even ended up, grocery cart racing at 2am, hopping fences and swimming in a pool with all our clothes on, reaking pure blissful havoc. Oh those were the good ol' days. When we were young :) But anywho, my hubby wasn't even around last year for my birthday as he was in CA already and I was alone in AZ. The friends were good hubby replacements as they took me to Hooters, got me cupcakes and put huge smiles on my face. But I had treated myself and the kiddos to dinner and went home to only a face on a PC screen. Well, this year, he completely made up for it and then some.

It all started a couple weeks ago I do believe he started poking and prodding questions out of me, and was asking places I'd like to eat, things I would like to do and I didn't really even think to much of it. Then as my birthday got closer and closer he was plotting, I could tell. The friends started to ask questions, I could feel a sense of "excitement" in the air. From myself only of course, cause I was psyching myself out. haha. I didn't know when he had the time to plan much of anything but boy did he pull it up. Here is the run down of my weekend...

Friday morning was my BIRTHDAY!! WOOT WOOT. I was kinda nervous and trying not to get to excited but hey. Who doesn't! I woke up, took my shower, he was asleep, didn't say a peep. I got out of the shower, he was making lunches, the kids were awake and NO ONE said a peep to me! What the heck, did they forget from the time they went to bed until now. I mean HELLO I only mentioned it about a billion times! I got dressed, did my hair and finally Neya and Carina came in and said happy birthday, phew, but the husband. Still nothing. He did get the boy ready, and did do all the morning routines so hey, who can complain. UNTIL I walked out to the kitchen and BAM! THere was a balloon bouquet, cards (one from him and one from the kids) and there was a little gift bag. Well, that to me was the perfect start. In the gift bag was a sweet decorative Martini Glass. It had cakes all over it. Gotta love birthday cake ;) He said happy birthday, we got some pics on (only on my cell phone though) and off I went to work with a smile on my face.






Lunch time rolls around and me and Melody hit up my fave place, well really our fave place, heck, who am I kidding, LOTS of peoples favorite place, Taqueria Rosita and she treated me to a lunch. She had her little man Teagen who wasn't feeling very good but he did give me a few big smiles and although he had a nasty cough and was keeping mommy very worried he certainly added to the birthday happiness :)We had full tummies, I got to give her the CD with all Peytens 6th birthday pics on it and at the end Teagen even left me with a little gift. I got a nice wet butt from sitting on a pack of wipes while patting his back and breaking up some flem. Haha. That's what I get for helping him out! Hehe.



That afternoon I got to leave work a bit early thanks to my fabulous co-workers and head off to do some shopping. I got to the store with Rian around 3 and wouldn't ya know, Grandpa Rich (my lil bro's dad) showed up with my sister, her girlfriend and my little bro a bit earlier than expected and met me there. I got a cute dress (very grown up and respectable) and even bought some nylons which I hated but hey, a girl has to stay warm!



We all headed up the hill, after catching some grief from Carina as she wasn't able to go to dinner but now Richie was, got reshowered, let the dog out to pee, cleaned up a bit (myself, not the house haha) and headed out. We dropped Rian off at my parents, in fact their were two reasons I didn't take my kids.

1. I have picky kids. I may not have known where we were going to dinner but I know they probably didn't serve chicken nuggets and fries.

2. I wanted a night with no responsibility. See, taking my bro was one thing, he had his dad there, his other sister there and lots of other grown adults to keep him in line which meant I didn't have a thing to worry about, if I had taken my kids, even Carina I would have most likely dealt with pickiness, attitude and at some point a meltdown of how bored she was.

Anywho, we all met up with RC at his dads house, and also met Lauren there, she was heading out with us. She got me the prettiest flowers and I had NO vase to put them in when I got home so guess what. I cut off the top off a 2 liter bottle and stuck them in there. Yeah, thats me, pure class. Haha. OFf we went to dinner. RC FINALLY caved and told me where we were headed and it was to the one place I was certain he would never take me! The Melting Pot! YAY! RC isn't a big fan of melted gooey choose nor is he a fan of chocolate so I assumed we would somewhere different, but apparently he was sticking to the plan of making this day all about me. Have I mentioned I love that man!

We got to dinner, had a bit of a wait but we had now added three more folks to our party and had a total of 10! Yes, 10 folks at a super yummy place. MMM. RC's bro, his woman and his son all showed up. They were so sweet, even got me a Macy's gift card! Yay me! We had a little wait till our table was open, we got a drink and then sat and began our meal. I won't go over all the details but I will say that you go in thinking its one thing and it's totally different. You basically cook your entire meal and it couldn't have been better. It was really great and I am hoping all the folks that attended had a blast. I have some pics of the food, the cooking pot and the dessert and of course any other rare photo ops I could snag. I had a great time and I am glad that RC kept it a secret. I am glad I got dressed up and I am even more glad I spent it with such a great group of people!









Saturday was kind of odd. We woke up a bit late (830) and made breakfast, got ready and went to grab the kiddos from my parents. The original plan the prior week was to go to the Zoo but the weather had different plans. We ended up deciding on bowling but wouldn't ya know, the one place in town was PACKED and had a huge wait. We decided to go eat lunch at Mary's (Yummy) and head back later where they were STILL packed. SO we played some video games, some air hockey, won some candy and then just as we were going to leave they had (of course) some lanes open. RC and I left the older kids to bowl with Rich and off we went to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for a get together at The Snook House. We got there and the Wendts were there and we were able to get in some chit chat time. This whole dinner was just for me and I loved it! I have the best friends and even though they couldn't be at dinner Friday night they made it a point to have us over. How sweet. Heather even brought me cheesecake!!! OMG. I couldn't even decide on what kind to have so I had a piece of each. Haha. We had big plans, karaoke, some board games, anythnig really and we ended up doing none of it. Life has been busy for each of our families and I think once we all had really full bellies (with delicious enchiladas) we got a bit tired and decided to call it a night. I had a blast either way and always enjoy spending time with great folks. Thanks again Tiff and Heather for making my night extra special.










Sunday was kind of sad, we had to say goodbye to Rich, Amy, Leila and Richie but before we did that we picked out some baby shower invites for our sister Ashley, made some belgian waffles and lazed about, even if only for a bit. We said our goodbyes, made some plans to visit again (maybe next time we can make it to the zoo) and off they went into the rain, in record time I might add. The rest of the day we ran errands, got gas, grocery shopped, and came home and lazed about after grubbing on some yummy tacos.

We had originally invited my parents up to come for dinner since I was kinda bummed I didn't see much of them my birthday weekend (although they did give me an awesome present...a gift card to the outlets!) and so we invited them up for Tacos. We got all excited, cleaned up the house after we got back from running errands and even gave Chloe a bath so that 'grandma and grandpa' met her when she was so fresh and so clean clean. Hehe. Well they ended up getting a text about my cousin Martina's recital they had agreed to go to and ended up having to cancel on us (sad) but at least we got a bath in! Chloe was not a fan but hey, what dog likes baths the first go round, I think she will get used to it! At least she is small enough to do it in the tub and doesn't need to go outside and get squirted by cold hose water!

Before: When she still loved me

During: When all she wanted to do was escape that terrible white water bowl!

After: When she wanted to jump out of my arms from disliking me so much

This birthday weekend, although minus my AZ friends, was great. It was low key, it was special and it was more importantly ALL ABOUT ME! Haha.

Thank you all for making it soo special you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

Didn't want to bloat the Blog withh a bunch of food pics right smack dab in the middle (lord knows I alread have enough people pics) but I can't help but post these so you can see the yummy food we scarfed down on Friday night :)

Memorial Day Weekend...

This Memorial Day I didn't do much, post much, read much nor did I feel like doing much.

However let me first take some time to say that I am such a lucky girl. I have so many family members and friends that I get to enjoy who have put their family time and lives on the line for us and all we have as Americans. No matter what their job, their role or their time served they will always have my respect, love and admiration. Thank you everyone for standing up for this great country!

Okay now back to what I did (which I may add is not nearly as respectable as those soldiers who we have loved, lost and celebrated...)

So to catch up on things. RC has taken on a second job, which isn't really a second job as it is during the same hours that his company runs and doesnt take "technically" any extra time from his day to day functions as dad/husband. However, this does mean that he has other commitments on the weekends so he can't just take a "day off" just because he feels like it which means that I have to tend to the kids every day, including weekends by myself, just like when he was at the carwash. The reason for the second job is mostly just cause he was bored and we have other obligations we want to knock out financially while we have the ability and ease to do so seeing as his other company sort of runs itself :)

NOW, in Arizona it didn't seem to make a difference. I had tons of friends who were always down to meet for lunch, an impromptu trip to the park, zoo, movie etc but here, here it is soo much different. Everyone is soo busy that if I don't pencil myself into their schedules at least 3 weeks in advance my weekends are destined for solitude (well with the kids) and sadly it bums me out and makes me want to just veg out which sucks for the kids. So this weekend was my last weekend that I will laze about feeling sorry for myself. I will get off my rump and start taking charge!

Now...onto the details. Saturday. Boring. We took the dog for her 2nd parvo vaccine where the vet scared me out of taking her ANYWHERE. I swear, when kids get vaccines you were worry about what might make them autistic, what might make them sick, what string of vaccines will work best or worst, but when you have a dog you get told that your dog may kick the bucket without these shots if she so much as sets foot on a lawn or sidewalk that isn't yours and that hasn't been sanitized with clorox and had all other dogs, animals and humans kept off of it. I know that sounds dramatic but seriously. The vet seriously told me. Parvo is terrible. Your dog could walk on the sidewalk. Lick its paw. Catch Parvo and be dead in a week. Oh. Em. Gee. Yes I was terrified. It worked. THen I felt bad for Sophie and Charlie cause we never took them to the vet and cared for them completly properly. Man, good thing we found them good homes to go to! Either way she did great, got carsick on the way up and down the hill but I learned from Tiff that maybe Ginger Snap cookies work. Who knows, we are willing to try anything at this point cause its GROSS.

After the shots we drove around, got a gift for Peyten, got Carina a graduation dress (which hello she is grown enough to shop in the Juniors section now! So sad!) AND we did some minor grocery shopping. All in all it was a good day but uneventful. I contemplated stopping by my parents but they were both out. Man what a sad life you live when even your parents have more plans than you do! Ugh.

Sunday we went to Peytens birthday party where the kids had a blast. I was thinking that I have known this kid since the day he was born and never been to a bday party for him. Well I made up for it as soon as the I was around for one and off I went to enjoy the festivities. I even picked up the cake so ya know he was excited to see me! The good thing was that I was at his birth so hopefully he will forgive me as the years go on. Rian braved getting in the pool but it made me realize that I seriously need to consider some swim lessons. If for any reason, just my own sanity! No joke. I was on pins and needles and finally just had him get out because it was all just stressing me out to much. He was fine, he knows his limits and he even kicked in the water but still this worried momma was not able to sit. We opened presents, grubbed on food, had cake, ate lots of junk food, swam, jumped on the trampoline. All in all it was a great day oh and did I mention I got a baby fix. I got to hold precious little Teagen and although he will not sleep for momma I did get a rare two minutes where he slept peacefully in my arms. Yes I took pics.

**Funny yet annoying story for the weekend. I have been REALLY good about making sure I have everything packed and loaded and double checked and so on. Now we always have the diaper bag in the car ready and full of what we would need in any typical day just in case we go to dinner or a friends after work and don't want to drive all the way back up the hill. Well today was no different. Started with a checklist, made a swim party bag, loaded the gift, extra clothes, diaper bag with EXTRA diapers and swim diapers, had Carina's bags packed as she was going to a friends to do a report and then head to her Nanas, had snacks packed for the drive down and the dog was taken out and then kenneled back up after her "time". I felt really good about it all then I realized I had a TON of bags and was going to consolidate. Got the kids in the car, grabbed the bags, ran in the house, threw all our junk in one bag, made one last pit stop at the restroom (even moms need potty breaks here and there) and then ran out the door. Picked up the cake, got to Melodys house EARLY and was soo proud of myself. WELL until I realized when I went to drop off the cake and Neya (had to run Carina to her friends) that I forgot the damn bag on the chair where I consolidated...all the way up the hill 1.5 hours away (round trip). So what happened you ask. I didn't run home but Neya and Rian both got new swim suits and i had to purchase a fresh pack of diapers and wipes for Rian as well via a quick trip to Target. UGH! Then you would think I learned my lesson but NOPE. Monday when we came down the hill, I left my damn money on the dresser in my bedroom after thinking to myself...oh gee, put that in your purse! UGHHHHH. How frustrating. Hope you are laughing. I am not. ***

Monday. We saw Kung Fu Panda. It was good, Rian got bored and Neya jabbered and laughed loudly at all the funny parts. Carina was with her Nana (she actually was there since Sunday afternoon). I was alone and I even bbq'd and at alone as RC had prior engagements for his brother. It was sort of depressing, there were no big bbq's to go to, no friends around and no nothing really but hey, it was quiet and after some of the crazy weekends we have had, I will take it! Hehe.

So without further delay here are some of the cutest pics from Peyten's 6th Birthday Party! Enjoy!

Losing it...

I am pretty sure I am suffering from "sometimers" disease. I mean it. I have moments where I can remember everything and then moments later my mind is blank, can barely remember who my kids are, palms are sweating. Okay okay, little dramatic, but seriously. I forget the weirdest things and mix up the oddest conversations and then I am left at the end of the day trying to make heads or tails of it. I had a day off once, and after that day to just recoup I was back to normal but now back in the chaos of my life its all going back to be one big jumbled up mess. Oh how I hope this all gets figured out and that my brain starts to realize I can't suffer from forgetfullness.

Weekend Fun...

This weekend we had a lot going on. We took the dog to the vet, we went grocery shopping, we got some garden stuff for our front yard, we had the girls play with friends, we bought a bbq, we turned a cat scratcher post into a table, we put our bbq together, we got haircuts for RC and Carina, we made an amazing dinner and dessert and then we CRASHED as soon as we hit our pillows Sunday night! I told you it was busy!

Of course I have told myself I will get better about pics and such so I have and you will be happy to know that the only thing I did not document was the vet trip.

I know I know, its almost as sweet as your babies first appointment only not. They put a thermometer up her rear, they shoved meds down her throat (okay thats exaggerating, they rolled it in a treat) they gave her a shot and she was shaking by the time we left. NOT really something that can be fixed by a pacifier or a bottle. So it was kinda of sad and instead I was stuck being a loving mom. On an upside she is sleeping in her crate almost every night (except for our long days when we let her sleep in the bed) and she is getting so much better when we say "Kennel Up" about just going in and laying down. Thank you Dusty for the advice on what words to use. She is getting more adventurous and is starting to frustrate me because she is having an accident a day in the house. Its weird. She was soo good and its like she is regressing so we will go back to giving her many treats and rewards for good "trips" outside. All in all I do not have a reason to post a "I hate my dog" post and am happy that she is still also tolerating us. Since I did not document the trip here is a pic of her 'sun bathing' while we worked hard on the yard.



Our BBQ. We have gone back and forth on when to get one, what kind to get, if we will use, if we want to spend the money on one and the list goes on and on about our BBQ internal battles with ourselves. Well a decision was made when I went to Fresh and Easy (Yes a little piece of AZ here in Napa!) and they had the yummiest looking NY Steaks. I don't eat steak really. I suck at cooking it, I am not a huge red meat fan and mostly I suck at cooking it (yes I know I already said that...we are just emphasizing the severity of my sucky steak cooking abilities). Despite all that dislike towards red meat I bought them anyways cause I had the hugest craving. NO NO NO don't even start thinking I'm preggers. I called RC right after our trip and said "we are buying a BBQ THIS WEEKEND". I didn't really think how or the specifics but we got it anyways and I LOVE IT. RC and the whole family (we each helped a tiny bit each) put the BBQ together and then of course we took some time for a photo op.





Wait a minute...that's not a BBQ...its a RIAN!!!



Later that day we went down to hill to town and we got a few things done. We dropped of a "stool sample" to the vet. Let me tell ya. The kids were totally grossed out by this but I am not sure whats more gross. Picking up dog poop from a lawn and placing it in a plastic vile, or picking up poop from a floor or undies and disposing in a toilet (of course this only happens when potty training) Either way both situations can be pretty traumatic. We also got RC and Carina hair cuts but the highlights of that trip was when we went to Home Depot. We were finally going to finish one of the front yard projects we had started. We have a little area the length of our house that we wanted to plant flowers in. So the girls originally got seeds and then I was scared they wouldn't grow so yesterday on top of STINKY soil we bought some potted 'full sun' flowers as well. HOPEFULLY They stay alive and it would be even better if the other flowers grew as well :) We also got adventurous and decided to plant some strawberries and basil. They both say FULL SUN and thats what they get in that area so we are not sure if they will grow but hey, it can't hurt to try :)



Before pics of our "gardening" area




Pics during our "gardening" tasks





After pics of our "gardening" area




I will not lie and say I believe that I was born with some 'green thumb' and that I think that we will miraculously have the best looking garden in town but I also dont think we will entirely kill everything. haha. The next item is to get the lawn taken care of. We have to rototill it and I will need my dads assist for that, but I think we are actually considering doing it next weekend so we can plant seed before the really hot months :) So MAYBE pics to come soon but I wouldn't hold my breathe if I were you. When it comes to gardening things tend to take a bit longer than we expect. Haha.

Our last "chore" for the day was to finish a task that I had wanted to do when I realized our cat only used the post part of the cat scratcher we bought her. I figured. Hey why not turn it into a coffee table and put it in the corner between our couches! yay me for being so brilliant. So this week my dad has routered the edges and sanded it and this weekend I painted it and put a sweet gloss coat on it. NOW of course, while it was drying Rian decided to stick his grubby hands on it so now I have a cute little hand print on one of the sides. I was mad about it ruingin all my 'hard work' but hey, it adds character. Makes it ours. Ya know!?!?! So it shall be the kitty post coffee table with grubby little hand prints and we will love it! Haha. Rian also was ecstatic about the drill we used to screw the board to the top of the cat post with so I got video of him helping there as well. So cute.

Before

After

Lastly I will leave you what we had for dinner Sunday night. I do believe that we are going to make Sundays a grill night where our whole meal will be cooked on the grill. Including any dessert we make! SOO good! Check out these pics and tell me that doesn't make you hungry! The pics don't do the food justice, it tasted SOO much better than the pics even look. The strawberries in the dessert were cooked on the grill, you coat them in sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice and a tiny water. lay them top side down (you trim the stem off to make a flat surface) in a cake pan and then you pour the extra mix over the top. Cook on the BBQ in the pan for 8-12 minutes, the more ripe they are the less time you cook them, and once all the strawberries are nice and soft and glazed you take them off the bbq, let them cool for 5 minutes, get an extra coating of yummy glaze and then pour over the top of the ice cream. SOO GOOD.




***Disclaimer: I swear we do not play favorites and only choose to take pics of Rian, in fact most of Sunday the girls were playing with the neighbors so its really their fault that they aren't in any pics. haha. Wait does that still make me sound like a terrible mom...Sheesh, can't catch a break.***