Jumping on Beds..........

The Weekend is Here!

In the summer the only thing that separates the weekend from any other day is the fact that we can hang as a family. Other than that, each day in the summer seems like a lot of fun....well, maybe except for today...today was get business done day!  I cleaned and put things away all day.   I did the dreaded trip to the grocery store....It feels nice to be semi organized but really what does it matter, it is only a matter of hours before it is all messy again, so I can't get too excited about it all.

I got the laundry put away which was a huge accomplishment but there is more in the washer and dryer so big whoop!

I am feeling a little crabby and probably shouldn't even post but sometimes I can talk myself out of a crappy mood so here I sit typing.

Why am I in a bad mood? Probably hormones, who knows?  Maybe laundry and cleaning isn't all it is cracked up to be?  

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to the weekend because Mannie and I have a date this weekend!!!

I was all excited to go see Funny People and then I saw in the paper it got really bad reviews so now I feel like we are back to square one....dinner and  ????  I don't know.  Bummed, I was so in the mood to crack up laughing!

This was our conversation at dinner tonight....

Mannie: (teasing the kids as always) "Mommy and I have a date tomorrow....we were thinking of going to ride horses, take a train ride and pet kitties!"

Insert pissed off Cami face....she still doesn't get his "humor"....

Charlie: "Mommy can't pet kitties, she will be sneezing all night!"

Cara: "Yeah, and Mommy doesn't feel comfortable sitting on horses, trotting or anything!"

Me....."Boy, Mommy is a lot of fun to hang with, don't  you think?"

They must think I am a big bore...Charlie started to add something about a train, but I cut him off, I can totally handle sitting on a train dude!!!!   I am soooooooo FUN on a train!!!

Oh well....off to the Lake to see my bud Sheela, she will cheer me up and get me out of my mood!

Have a fun weekend!  Maybe you shouldn't clean your house!?....just saying!

Quiet Moments

Quiet moments in this house are few and far between.

Especially with a little fireplug like Cami running around the house....but we have moments when she sits down and grabs a book to look thru and moments each morning when she crawls into bed with me and snuggles up to me......I seriously RELISH these moments.

When things don't happen frequently, you tend to appreciate them more.

I appreciate the quiet that lives in Cam....it is down there buried away, but it is there and although I love her happy little bossy and life lovin' self.....I also LOVE the Cami that likes to play in her room, lost in her imagination or a sweet, cuddly,half asleep cutie hugging me either in the morning or at night.....or calmly sitting engrossed in a book.....sometimes I wish I could be in her head to hear what she thinks.

Yesterday we met up with the Joann and her kids at the ENC in Newport Beach.  I hadn't been there in a long time.  It was fun to be back there again.  They have crayfish in the ponds there and leave it Cam to sit there and concentrate and catch one of those little guys with a stick....such a determined little girl.

The kids were happy to hang with Beth and Matthew again. It has been a while since we had all gotten together.

After, we visited Mannie at work....he was working next door, very convenient.  

Then home and I cleaned, folded laundry....never ending....and got dinner ready.  

Today, we are going to keep it mellow and I need to put laundry away!  Good times!!  No productivity zapping today!

I would love to tackle another quick organizational project....but it seems like most of the "projects" that need to be done are actually not quick! 

That is it for today.

Have a good one!

Summer! Yay!

Leaving you with another quiet moment...

Balboa Island

Went to Balboa Island yesterday with the fam.

Mannie was working from home......I am a really bad influence......he calls me the productivity zapper....I am, what can I say.  We may not get much done, but we have FUN!

We walked around town and got an ice cream.

Took  a ferry  in the car, always exciting for the kids.

Went to the beach.

Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.....first time there....wasn't impressed with the food but really liked the decor......kids were restless at dinner.....I swear the 2 tables on either side of us were not talking to each other...I felt so self conscious about my little swirmy noisemakers......I felt like telling the tables to talk to each other already! so maybe they wouldn't notice the crazy kids at the table next to them!!

Mannie took the kids to the pool for a night swim and I ejoyed some quiet time.

Random sidenote:

I wrote Mannie a little note last night and left it on his desk for him to find this morning....he left me a note back this morning that I found when I came downstairs.....I got the chills.  Handwriting is so personal, you know......so, THAT person!!  I see it and feel so with that person at that moment, even when they are not there.  Mannie is only at work but when we lived apart, his handwriting was what I lived on for the 8 months or so that we were dating long distance...I guess it brought back those memories about how special and unique his writing is to him as a person.

I came across letters from my grandma some time ago.....she would write me when I was away at college...again, I can feel her here when I look at the letters.

Makes me really appreciate how important journaling in our own handwriting is.....for our kids in the future.  

Random, I know, but I just saw the little note from Mannie and it is on my mind.

Have a good one,

Still LOVING SUMMER here! :)

One more beach picture not from yesterday....took it a few weeks ago when the waves were huge!

Oh no, speaking of handwritten notes......I just found this in the kitchen.....of all the kids, this little one is so sad!!

Fun with Food

They oohhhhhed....

They aaaaahhhhhhhhhed!

They smiled.....

They giggled!!

They ate the carrots.....then they took Mr. Caterpillar apart, said, "ew, gross" and pushed their plates away!

Oh well.

I won't give up.....I make one heck of a rainbow fruit salad!!

A girl can dream right?

Have a fun day!!!

Still LOVING SUMMER!

Best Weekend Ever!

It is Monday and I can finally sit and relax a bit!!! I have been running errands ALL day....after I blog, it is back to work....laundry and organizing under my kitchen sink...was inspired by Good Housekeeping today! (Edited....done....o.k., that seriously took maybe 10 minutes at the most!  If I keep doing mini projects like that each day, I will have the most organized home by Christmas!)

Then, I will organize the medicine area of my kitchen....we have a few medicine areas in the house...but the kitchen one is especially unorganized.....I was inspired by Libby on that one!! (again, done..part of that 10 minute time above!!  Got rid of a few expired meds as well)

We had a wonderful weekend that started with a trip to the lake...I already blogged about that.

Then we hit the Angel game on Saturday!!!! OMG.....FUN with all caps!!!!   

This was the kids first MLB game.....I was nervous that they would get bored b/c although they are used to going to 9 inning games, they are not used to sitting the whole time!! We showed up at the end of the 3 rd inning and thankfully our seats were in a shaded area...otherwise, they wouldn't have lasted for sure!

I packed them candy and made them little journals to draw in..... it was Free Rally Monkey coin bank day so as soon as we walked in, they were handed a box(present)!!!  It was so much fun to be together as a family and to our LUCK! the 4th inning was very exciting with 9 runs, I think 2 were homeruns! So fun!

After, we got to go on the field since Mannie has worked at the stadium so  we got to visit the ground crew guys.  Well, randomly, it was player and family picnic...so some of the players were there.  They had clowns and were playing baseball.  We stayed away since we were not part of the group but toward the end of it, we sort of crashed it so I could get pictures of the kids sliding into homeplate, etc!

I posted a ton of pictures on Facebook if you are my "friend" you can check them out. :)  

Hence, random picture with clown at the stadium, funny!

Yesterday, Mannie had a game and his team won....one of the guys got 2 home runs! It is always more exciting when they win!  After the game, we headed over to Claim Jumper for a beer and free buffalo wings(if you show your Angel ticket) with a group of teammates and their family..good times!!!

I find it funny because I grew up with football(my grandfather worked for the NY Giants and we spent many a Sunday cheering for the Giants)....not baseball.  I know very little about baseball but I find myself completely immersed in baseball these days, ....you just never know where life will take you.

Alright, off to go organize, I think I have rested enough.

Hope you are having a nice day!!!

I LOVE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please don't end!

Look Ma, No Hands!

Cara finished up horse camp yesterday....what a great experience.  So nice for her to learn about the responsibilites involved and be with other kids who can all relate to each other and their love of horses!!! 

After camp, we went to the petting zoo with Suzy and her girls....didn't bring my camera but Suzy had hers and she got some really adorable pictures of the kids, so cute!! and she scrapped them.....Suzy is a really amazing scrapbooker.   I was hoping I could learn something from her as I watched (she wrote a little story on her blog about why I was watching and not actually scrapping) but as I sat there I realized that you cannot learn something that is in someone else's mind.....she is gifted, completely....that is why she is a professional and designs as a job.  Amazing!  I had asked her to pick out some papers that would match with the pictures she had printed and then she handed me this pile of stuff and I sort of looked at her like, "And you expect me to do WHAT with this stuff?" ...... at which point she grabbed it all back and got started on these two adorable LO's.  LOVE THEM!

After a full day we headed over to the lake to meet up with Tom and Sheela....my first time seeing them all summer....where has the time gone?  It feels like the summer has just begun and at the same time, it feels like it is almost over!  The lake was amazing!!!!  My first time there......I wish we could "belong" to the lake...you have to live in the town to go so we were there as their guests.  It was soooooooo relaxing, no waves, great water temperature.  We ate and the kids swam, played on the beach and on the playground.  We chatted, as in, the adults...it was great!!!  

We got home and I have never seen the kids so tired...they showered, got in their p.j.'s and just barely crawled into bed.  

A perfect summer day!!!  

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Today!

It is 8 am ..... Cara just came in and asked me if it was time to go to horse camp yet......I think that says it all.  Today is her last day....sniff, sniff....(for her)....I have been happy for her and happy to cart her over there but I won't necessarily miss the having to be there by a certain time, sort of like a schedule...which I am not a fan of in the summer.

Anyway, today she gets to ride the horse all by herself !!! She is so excited!! 

Last night she said to me, "Mom, do you know what I love most of all?"  I said, "Um, let's see, horses?"....she says, "No!".......I said, "Really? Well, o.k.....dolphins?".......she says, "No.......it is my Family!  I love my family most of all, more than horses or any animals!"

No joke she said that....while I know that she loves us a ton because she is 7 and most 7 year olds still love their family....it was cute to hear her emphasize it by comparing it to animals.

The kids have been saying funny little things....I need to grab my little notebook and write them down but I never do....only if I think of them while on here....

Last week, we were driving with all the windows down, which I rarely do...I don't like the commotion and funny, neither does Charlie....anyway, I was driving down a big hill with the wind blowing all over the place and the kids were screaming with glee (except Charlie who was probably covering his eyes so nothing would get in his eyes!).....anyway, Cara screams, "Mom, I haven't felt this good in years!"...that just cracked me up, it sounded like something an 80 year old would say.

Alright, enough of the quotes....we have been having a fun and busy week....horse camp,  trips to San Juan Capistrano  and the train station, the beach,  Ruby's for ice cream,  haircut for Charlie...and the kids scrapbooking class.... I bought some fun stuff at the Red Bee and then over at the Oasis yesterday and came home and made a quick LO about Cami. 

We have a fun weekend lined up which includes a trip to the lake, an Angel game and of course another baseball game with our very own "senior" pro!  Should be fun!

I LOVE SUMMER!!!! 

Summer Scraps

Morning!

I scrapped yesterday and it was fun! 

One about fishing, above.

One about the 3 kids....using a little vintage Lil' Davis....what happened to them, are they still around?

Summer Vault...one of my faves from last summer ..... I was so inspired and excited to go to the Fair last year because I had Candice's kit....wish she was still kitting!  I love all the fun embellishments she picked out:

Another Fair LO from last summer..

A first day of summer LO....I wish I had looked at this LO right before summer and I would have taken a "First Day of Summer" set of  pictures from this year....I could probably find some though, if I dig around, since I take pictures almost everyday!

Well....looking forward to a busy busy day!  

Horse camp is going along very nicely....yesterday at about 5pm, Cara was saying, "I can't wait for tomorrow, I want to go back!!!!"  Very happy for her!  There is so much to learn....riding styles, tools to use to care for the horse, how to put on all the equipment to get ready to ride, how you lead a horse safely....it is really showing her how much work goes into owning a horse....they even visited the horse vet to see what goes on there.  Today they will be riding again and giving a horse a bath!  Good stuff!

Dentist yesterday.....NO CAVATIES!!!!  Such relief!!   

Speaking of teeth..this is a tooth fairy pillow I made for Charlie, at his request! He has lost 2 teeth so far.  We don't put the teeth under pillows, we put them in a pouch and hang it on the door....the baseball is the pouch for Charlie.

Off to horse camp....then the beach.....I LOVE SUMMER!!!!

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Dinner last night....tacos and fruit salad.  

Cara and I prepared the fruit salad....I let her cut with a sharp knife which was a first for us.  She was happy to help and proud that I trusted her to use a "mommy tool".  Love her smile when she is feeling special and proud.  We chatted and made dinner.  I liked it....it was fun and made me think that I need a helper every night.  Good bonding and shared responsibility.  

Funny thing.....my kids like fruit but  sometimes  I will cut up fruit and put it on their plates and it will go untouched.  They are hit or miss fruit eaters. Last night,  since it was presented as a rainbow, they couldn't eat it fast enough....even kiwi which they had never tried before.  Now this was fruit so it is no big deal but  it made me think that I need to do cool things with vegetables!!!!  What would they try if it was presented in a cool way?  

Last night I went to see Tricia teach photography.  I was once again reminded about how gifted she is as a communicator.  She is also a gifted teacher and photographer.....so COOL to see someone doing what they were MEANT to do....what they love to do all combined into one thing.  So HAPPY for Tricia!!!   You are fantastic!!  Thanks Susan....and great to chat with you and Laura too!

Well, that is all....off to get dressed and get Cara off to horse camp!! She loves it of course!  

Here are some horses for you!

I LOVE SUMMER!

The OC Fair

This weekend we went to the Fair!

It was hot......it was very hot.......did I mention it was hot? Because it was really hot!

Last year I took so many pictures, this year I was too hot to care!

When we all got in the car to leave for the fair we realized that Cam and Charlie had left 2 chocolate milk bottles in the car ....... in the HOT HEAT....it was so smelly that even a new Yankee Candle smelly couldn't do the trick.  I should have taken this as a sign and went back in the house.....but we drove to the fair in a smelly car with kids holding their noses and complaining that the car stunk.

Our trip to the fair this year started with a viewing of  strangely GINORMOUS horse and steer!   

Then we went and watched our friend play surf tunes with his band....The Fabulous Nomads.... they were great.....but they were making me want to go jump in the ocean which was not part of the fair experience!  

Then we went thru the gardening/animal area and looked at stuff.....that was cool(not temperature wise, I mean it was fun and neat to see) .  I LOVED their HUGE sunflowers....they were gigantic!!!  

After, the kids wanted to go over to Kidland to ride on the water boat ride....I wanted to jump in and stood there in the hot sun wishing I was the man in the waders working the fair.  Here are the kids going into the "haunted house"....I love the look on Cara's face... 

We did a few more kid rides and then this portion of our fair experience turned into, "We will not leave the fair unless we have FISH!"  We played a game to win a fish and the kids lost.  O.K. they were disappointed but we moved on (I thought) and went on to other rides and games.......but NO! Suddenly, I found myself back at that game, how did we end up there again, I do not know!  But we did and unfortunately Cara won a goldfish.  See ball in water....  So I declared that this fish although was "officially" Cara's, we would all share it as a family pet....and then proceeded to herd them away from the fish table and head back over to the Fabulous Nomad's to see them finish up.  I could see little Miss Cami stomping away in disgust that she did not have a fish of her own....and it just pissed her off to no end that her big sis won one....a little sibling rivalry there.  We got to the band area and the Nomads were done  but we stood around chatting and while doing so, Miss Cami grumbled about her fish.  Somewhere in there Mannie had told her we would go back to try again.  So, we headed back over to kidland to try yet again for a damm fish!  At this point, we could have just saved a whole pile of money and driven to Petsmart and bought 3 fish for the kids.  But I suppose that wouldn't have been as fun.

In the end, we left the fair, hot, sweaty ....some stuffed animals won, cotton candy and HUGE hot dog eaten....but most imortantly, VERY proud owners of 3 little fishies! Yay us! 

Bye Bye OC Fair....see you next year!

Off to horse camp today!  I have one very excited "camper"!!!!

I LOVE SUMMER!