Christmas.

We needed a little Christmas and we got it. It was lovely. We spent Christmas eve at my in-laws, all of Tony's family was there. We played the game, is it called white elephant or Chinese Christmas? Anyway, Tony and I made it home with an exercise ball and a neck pillow. It was so much fun, we busted up laughing for over an hour. My sides were hurting after. Tony and I stayed up way too late on Christmas eve and were not feeling so good for it Christmas day but it was nice and relaxing. We stayed home with the kids all day and my Mom drove up in the morning to be with us [the best Christmas gift of all] for part of the day. It was nice. Sarah is the funniest hula-hooper of all time and I will share the video later, she thanks Auntie Renee for that. I thank Auntie Renee [and my Mom too] for dark chocolate. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I told Tony that I only wanted one thing for Christmas, and I ended up with three. The thing I told him is personal and handmade [written] and he surprised me with earrings [lovely ones too] and a power tool. The electric screwdriver I mentioned months ago that I would like to have...he remembered. I love it too, it's already charging up for it's big debut!

I hope yours was merry and and warm and fun and delicious too!

The Dance.

This song was playing in my head this morning when I woke up. Then my Mom called to give me the news about Grandpa. He passed away quietly this morning with his family close by. I pray that he is feeling our Father's love and comfort this morning. I hope all those who loved him can somehow find peace and comfort as well.

A Little Joy!

Last night Emily and Sarah were in a Christmas play at the church. It was so much fun and pretty good too! Before the big show, I was playing with the different styles for video and this one was so cute I just had to share.

That little video sort of goes along with the western theme of the play. My still pictures weren't too good for some reason. In the second video Sarah is a little Shepard in the front, second from the right, and when I pan to the far left, Emily is on the very end. The little girl singing solo in the middle has incredible talent!

Our Christmas tree is as decorated as it is ever going to be, with the exception of any more goodies the kids can find to lay on it. It is missing lots of the little glass balls because we now have hardwood floor. The chances of a ball falling and breaking have increased tremendously, ergo fewer breakable balls! Two years ago, a friend gave six hand decorated glass balls to us. Each one with our name on it. As of last week there are three. Tony's and mine survived, and Emily's too. Wyatt was a little anxious to decorate and I found the broken ones pushed up against the tree skirt, half hidden. He felt bad, oh well, at least he didn't cut himself!

I'm here sipping hot tea with cold fingers and I'm throwing out Christmas cyber joy to you! I hope your feeling it! I'm getting there.

Ben and Florence.

If you have a little extra space in your heart right now, Ben and Florence could use an extra prayer. Today, I'm praying for their peace and comfort.

















Jim is traveling this week to be with them. They are in their 90's, have been married for 75 years and have two sons Jim and Bob. Though they are technically my step-grandparents, they have been a steadfast part of my life as long as I can remember. Grandma was always so wonderful at sending cards and letters and never once made me feel as if I was not her real granddaughter. They live in Michigan and we weren't blessed with a lot of time with them but they were somehow always so close to us in spirit. I remember how Grandma used to get a kick out of telling funny jokes and playing UNO with us. As a kid I remember bragging to my friends that my Grandparents took disco dance lessons! In their sixties no less! The thing I remember most about the time I spent around Grandpa is the sturdy smile that accompanied his laugh.
Nice memories. I have this photo so that my children can know them a little bit too, their great-grandparents.

A little prayer for Jim too. Be safe and Godspeed.

Odds and Bits.

'Odds and Bits' is what Kal [my favorite non-family person blog] uses from time to time to title her posts and I hear it in my head when I am posting miscellaneous things like today. Incidentally, Kal posts to her blog every day but Sunday and has not posted since Wednesday. She is expecting her first baby any moment, it's probably happened already. There is great anticipation with her blog readers as you can see by the amount of comments, I can't wait to see her next post!

I finished my Christmas cards today. I apologize to you for boring you with yet another vision of our San Diego family picture on the beach. Most of the people on my list have never seen my blog so the photo may be brand new to them, you however, have been blasted with the images again and again. So, sorry about that my friends, but I'm just taking a little bit more mileage from that wonderful photo session we had in August!

Has this ever happened to you? These are two pieces of mail I received recently that still had the postage stamp intact. Is it stealing if you pick them off and use them again?



I love this because it is Wyatt's first animal picture. My kids very often ask me "what animal do you want me to draw for you Mommy?" My usual and predictable answer "a giraffe please." Just look at it's sweet face and handsome giraffe body! LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. IT!



Sarah was chosen to be the "Queso Grande" in her class this week. The Big Cheese. We sent photos to class and she wrote in a journal of the adventures she had with the rat that came home from school with her for the week. She was so happy with that rat. [Don't pay any attention to our half decorated Christmas tree in the picture! We will get to it this weekend, I hope!]



This is a cute letter Sarah wrote to her best friend Ella. At first she was asking me how to spell everything and later gave up. I like it that way, it is so much cuter, and so much more real. She's only six and the spelling will come later! Plus, I think she does well for not yet having any instruction in English. That's right, kudos to my little sweetie(s)...she is bilingual, biliterate, and if I may say proudly, bicultural. I think learning culture and language at such a young age is one of the greatest gifts Tony and I are giving our children and I am darn proud of that! Lucky little ones indeed!



Hope your weekend is warm and lovely and full of soulful Christmas tradition.

Santaphobia.

So this was our 10th year waiting in the Santa line at the mall. It's not my favorite way to spend an hour but once you start something like this and it becomes a "tradition" you know you can't stop. Want proof? Here you go...

At home she fears no Santa. At the mall, in the flesh, nothing but pure two-year old terror. You can see the distress on her face.

So, we had to make a choice, three out of four in the annual Santa pic, or...the whole family.
I guess you could say I enjoy digitally embellishing the photos myself, maybe a little too much!

This made me laugh so much that it hurt, look what happened while we were waiting in the Santa line. The kids were hilarious. When Santa asked them what they would like for Christmas they all reacted differently. Eva screamed and ran toward the exit. Emily giggled herself silly and could barely get words out. Sarah rolled her eyes from side to side and then whispered to Santa. Wyatt shrugged his shoulders a bit and just kept petting Santa's fur above his belt, Santa kept looking at the fur that was being petted as if no child had ever been so intrigued by his belly mass of fur. Then something magical happened. Santa Claus asked, "and you Mom, what would you like for Christmas?" With a tear in my eye, I replied, "just a nice reliable babysitter would be nice once in a while!"

Just kidding! What I really said was something vague and unquantifiable. I said "more of the same." That's it. That's what came out of my mouth when the big man asked me what I wanted. Just think, I could have had anything and I missed my big red opportunity! What the heck was I thinking?

Honestly, I do know what I was thinking. I was thinking, no more than what I already have. Certainly, my life is [sweet, but] NOWHERE near perfect, however, I find it hard to ask for more than what I have already been blessed with. That's why the same just sounds right to me.

True. My heart wanted to tell him "for the whole world please Santa, more peace, more joy, and more love."

Oh help! I would love a little less of one thing. Less fussing and fighting from these four marvelous little people! The fussing and fighting is not the part that is a blessing! I know Santa is not going to help me with that one, it has to be me.

I know, I better not pout, I better not cry, I've gotta run!

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like...

Home. That's it, there it is, I like it. I like how it turned out. I just printed photos from my printer at home and used two boxes of frame sets that I found at [surprise] Costco. Love it. Love it. Love it. It makes my home feel more homey and cozy and warm and filled up. Little by little, it has taken me almost ten years but I am finally making this place feel like some [really cool] people really live here!


We have our undecorated tree standing bare in the living room, just waiting for the right moment to bring it to life. The right moment will occur as soon as we get a few hours free to decorate it all together. During the week, things get pretty hectic so it may have to stand there like that until Friday night or Saturday, poor little 9 foot guy. Don't feel sorry for him though, he has been with us since 1999 so he is used to us treating him this way and we'll give him his dignity back in a few days.

Sharing another Wyattism from last night. During the day this kid can be loud, wreckless, daring, rowdy as heck and downright defiant. However, he becomes extremely affectionate as bedtime nears and my little man is sometimes quite profound.

Momma, I love you too much
Momma, I love you around the world...to a million
Momma, I love you to the end of the numbers
At the end of the numbers is all scribbley
I just love you too much.

Told you.

'Lil Scooter Girl.

Just took this video this morning, love it.

Bye-Bye November!

Brrrrr, it's been a chilly last day of November and I'm ready to curl up by the fireplace, watch a nice family-friendly movie (even I admit nice family-friendly movies are wearing me down, but what can you do) maybe a tasty little martini to help with all the friendliness and warm me up as well! Yep, that's the plan.

I have been saving some of the most amusing things my kids have said to me lately, I even write them down word for word as they are told to me just so I can share them with you all. Maybe also so I can look at them later and laugh, we forget so many things as the days pass and this will help me remember the sweetest ones.

Wyatt: "Mama, did you know that lava is a hundred
pounds deep?"

Wyatt: "Everyone was a baby right? Mommy it was so cute when you were a baby, right?"

Wyatt: "This is part of a turkey that died right Sarah?" [as he held up a piece of turkey bologna to her]
Sarah: "Yeah, they have to kill the turkey and then do it!"

Eva: "I wanna watch Rudolph the Snowman!"

This one happens daily and is my favorite. Imagine Eva looking for something, then as she sees it, she exclaims with excitement all over her face "there she are!"

Adios November, it was fun.

Trying to Keep Up!

Whoa, will someone please slow this year down! I cannot believe everyone is already preparing for Christmas! Me? Not yet, but soon. Tony has taken down all of our Christmas paraphernalia (that's a great word paraphernalia, I would have never spelled it correctly if I had tried, lucky for me I plucked it from the thesaurus in Word, I'm a little tricky that way) from storage and I have taken out a few Christmas books for the kids but that's it for me so far. I haven't set foot in a store yet (Costco doesn't count) and I don't plan on doing a lot of shopping, it's better that way, less is most certainly more if you ask me.

It's the warmth and the shared love and coziness that I crave. Remembering why Christmas is so magical, the Christmas music playing, the twinkling lights of the tree, the warm mug of yum, the fireplace aglow with warm faces of the people I love...that's what does it for me, that's all I need. You don't need to bring a gift, you are my present.

Last week was really good, except for the part where Tony was sick with a bad cold which lingers still. Thanksgiving was quiet, we stayed in town and had dinner late in the afternoon with Tony's family. His sister Chonchi graciously opened her home to us and the immediate family, translated for you that's around 35 people and a whole lotta mashed potatoes! The kids tried to behave, I know I behaved, it was lovely although I did miss being with my family on Thanksgiving.

Besides taking care of the kids and keeping up with the house things, I am finally putting together a wall group from our beach photos last August. I have the pictures framed and I am ready to hang, so glad I got that done. I chose black frames with black and white pics and I'll share pictures of the pictures when I get it up.

I love this. In the jukebox of my life I have maybe listened to country music for 20 minutes, but once in a while something country surprises me and makes me love it. I do like country music, it's just never been my first choice. Give me Natalie Merchant or Elvis Costello and everything else falls down. Ooooh wouldn't Natalie and Elvis be great together? So, I caught a few minutes of an award show a few weeks ago and I saw Sugarland, who I had never heard of before, and Beyonce singing it. I'm not so much a Beyonce fan but the country version was curiously fun for me so, I found this and I admit, I'm kind of addicted to this song at the moment.



It's fun to sing it with all the attitude it deserves, go ahead, you know you want to!

Pure Sweetness, She Is.

Fall is fun, and pretty. Especially when you are two and you have a green dress,
a deflated basketball to kick around, and a warm day.




Because I may not post again until after Thursday, I hope YOU have a wonderful holiday. We are all blessed with more than we need, I am humbled and truly thankful.

Because They're Only Little for a Little While.

Just sitting here with hot tea and Eva thinking about Alicia, my sister. She recently reminded me of our kids' evanescent littleness when she mentioned her son Jake, who is now 11 years old. She said to me "we only have him for 7 more years" in the context of our conversation. That really made me think of my kids and how we spend our days. The title of this post is so over-cliched but so so true and as a parent I don't take it to heart enough of the time.

With all the teaching and training and homework and getting ready for that and this, the days pass and then you look around and just blow the air out and sigh. How did we get here...not a question, just a statement. How do you do it, we just do. Maybe that's why I take my camera with me now almost every where we go. I don't have the greatest memory, so I think it is because I don't want to forget anything important. This morning the leaves were important. And even though it's a mathematical impossibility, I know I need to find a way to love them more every day.

Sarah is the funniest kid I have, she doesn't even try, she is just cracks me up daily. Yesterday after school, she got out of the car walking funny. I told her "just go to the bathroom already!" Upon that she said this to me:

"Mommy, I tried to go to the bathroom at school but my teacher wouldn't let me so I had to bring my p*e and p*op home with me."

Her teacher isn't mean, so I'm guessing it was right before the bell rang. She says all this with a straight face and walks slowly and contortedly to the bathroom. I love the way her mind works, she left me standing there thinking...

holy sh*t.

Sarah also brought home some schoolwork yesterday and when I looked at her picture of our family sitting on the couch, she told me how disappointed she was that she "didn't have a body." Her sentence says, "Every Friday, my family and I watch movies from Netflix." Makes you wonder how much kids tell their teachers about their family life. Sigh, just another reason to love them more.

Happy Veteran's Day. Especially to my Grandfather, who served in World War II.

Papa, I'm guessing you had an enjoyable workout at the Y today! Don't worry about your lawn...just leave it for tomorrow. I love you.

24 Hours in San Francisco.

Sarah and I spent a good part of the weekend in SF with my two sisters, three nieces, and my sister-in-law Anne. We drove about an hour and then parked our car to take BART, the bay area's version of a subway/train. That leg of the trip also took about an hour. It took us through east bay cities and through the bay tunnel under the bay (little bit scary) and finally into downtown SF. When we got up above ground in the city it was raining (of course I forgot the umbrella) and I was a bit disoriented but our hotel wasn't far and it didn't take long to get to it.

In the lobby, we met Alicia and Anne and my sweet little niece Hannah. I am majorly disappointed that I didn't get a picture of her to share. Because of the rain we didn't really take pictures that first day, just a few hotel room shots of the sisters. When Renee, Allison and Sydney arrived we took a walk down Market street headed toward Union Square in the rain, but as soon as we found a shopping mall we dove in for cover.

It happened to be one of the biggest malls you can imagine, with two or three levels before you even begin to see the Nordstrom that takes 5 or 6 levels more with layers of spiral escalators. It was hard to look down, really, and don't think that I don't imagine "the big one" every time I go to the city because I do. I think most people do, it's constantly on my mind and when I leave and look back at the skyline in the distance, it's an overwhelming feeling of pheeeeeew (hand crossing brow), earthquake crisis averted, we're safe. Relatively.

Anyway, after the mall, we took the BART for only one stop, back to the hotel. Dinner was at the Rainforest Cafe, which the four girls loved...me too, the company was fantastic! We all spent a little time talking in our room later that night and that was the last we saw of Hannah, Alicia and Anne. We faced a beautiful cloudless San Francisco morning and they bailed before breakfast! At least we got to spend one rainy day with them, hence and sadly no photos of sweet Hannah.

Early that morning, I had a mini-adventure all by myself. I left all the girls, including my Sarah sleeping and took a cab to this beautiful church for 7:30 a.m. mass. I actually hailed a cab and rode in it all alone. When he dropped me off at the church, the cab driver asked me in a soft voice to pray for him. I just said "alright" and gave him six bucks. I walked back to the hotel, it wasn't really that far, and it was a beautiful morning.

San Francisco is a beautiful place. It's also oddball and crazy. The streets are ridiculous, funny ridiculous, frustrating ridiculous. Parking is a huge issue so for breakfast, near the fisherman's wharf at a place called the Buena Vista Cafe, we parked about a half-mile away. Not a big deal in some other city, but in SF, and on this occasion, we parked on a fairly flat portion and then walked down one of the steepest grade streets in the entire city. A 30% grade is kind of fun going down, but later when you're tired from walking around for a few hours, it's just a little bit hard to walk back up. Today I am feeling the burn, it feels like I have heavy weights strapped to my legs!

The restaurant is famous for the Irish coffee and a lot of people try to squeeze into it at the same time. It's a smallish place and there is no hostess, no reservations, no list, no line. You just go in and hover over some other people until they leave . Weird really. It becomes scary when you and another group of people want the same table. Especially when the other group have scrappy looks and body piercings. They really didn't like it when we played the "we have little hungry kids" card. Lucky for us we befriended a guy named Marty who assumed the role of quasi-bodyguard and we squeezed into the table without getting physical with the scrappers.

The Irish coffee at the Buena Vista is very good, but trust me, ONE is more than enough. A large group of people were celebrating a birthday at the next table so Marty and I also received the happy birthday song treatment when they discovered that our birthdays were in close proximity with their celebrant. I've never experienced twenty or thirty strangers singing happy birthday to me, they even pronounced my name correctly thanks to Renee. Fun.

After the raging excitement of the breakfast, we found a tour boat and spontaneously climbed aboard (at the bargain price of $10 a head) for a one hour tour to the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz island. I think this will go down as the highlight of the weekend. I have been to SF dozens of times and never have done this boat trip. It was just a small charter fishing vessel and there may have been 50 people aboard. We sat on cushions at the bow and we had salt water spraying us for much of the time, it was quite an adventure. The waves were pretty big too, and, as I write this a day later I am feeling it, kind of in a seasick way, although I did not feel sick at all on the boat or later that day. Sarah did great, such a little trooper. She never complained or whined or asked me for anything she didn't need. The perfect little traveler, my princess Sarah.

So there you go, a memorable 24 hours with my beautiful sisters and nieces.

Just a Few Sweet Things.

I love how Eva lines up her figurines. She chats with them and moves them around in different order and just pleases herself with the combinations. Doesn't it look like Buzz is casually pushing the others back so he can be the one in the front?

I have a confession. I've been cheating...on my coffee. I found this really good tea and I crave it over the SECOND cup of coffee. I've never had such a SPICY tea that tasted SO GOOD. It's so strong that it's easy to reuse the tea bag, actually I like that second cup better, a little more mild than the first. I found it at Costco, sampled it, then purchased it in a case of 15,000. Just kidding, but they do make you buy a lot, it just might get us through the winter! It's called Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy Herb Tea. I know tea is supposed to be good for you, and I don't buy that talk that coffee isn't good for you, so either way I WIN! Yay me!

The Late Halloween Post.

Sorry the Halloween round-up is so late. Pretty much your average spooky little holiday, dressing up, a little candy begging and a quick trip to my in-laws for the showing of costumes and picture taking. Eva was the fifth child to don the bee. We originally purchased it when Emily was one or two, cousin Mikey wore it the following year, then Sarah, then Wyatt.

Eva took her turn with the bee costume and she loved it, she has asked to put it on almost every day since Halloween. I finally packed up the totes of costumes and decor and put everything upstairs (AKA the pull-down garage storage where all the seasonal items go to rest.)

Emily the IRS Lawyer. Funny, people were giving her extra candy, throwing it right into the briefcase. The whole get up came just from the old fake glasses (that I actually bought in the 80's). Add one of my old suits, a quickie updo, tape the letters to the briefcase and you're done. I love nine year-olds! Later as we were getting ready for bed she asked, "Mommy, can I be IRS next year?"

Spiderman goes out to rescue the candy.

What the witch looks like after the candy, don't mess with her.

I have a pretty miserable cold this week but I must go out to buy diapers and I think I will pick up Ratatouille today, I told myself I wasn't going to buy any more movies when we started Netflix, but you know, I'm a sucker for Pixar.

Thank you for all the happy birthday wishes and phone calls!

I Didn't Feel It and Happy Halloween.

No, I did not feel it, but I was sitting in an arena with 11,000 people and the ones behind me were using their cell phones to call family in the bay area asking what just happened and when they said "the equipment is still swinging from the rafters," I did see the swinging. I was in Stockton, which is forty something miles from the epicenter as the crow flies. The skating was great. High School Musical is goofy.

WOO HOO and BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Little Happy Campers.

Me and my big girls spent the weekend at Girl Scout camp. I went up with just Emily last year and now that Sarah is a Brownie, her troop was invited. We left after school on Friday, me, my girls, and three extra girls in the car. We stayed in a big camp that is used by organizations and, yes in cabins. Basic and bare bones little cabins but with heat. Emily stayed in one cabin with her troop and Sarah and I stayed in another with hers. In our cabin we had twelve six year-olds and five moms. All of the girls slept in bunk beds and only three fell out of the top bunk! I am serious, and they were uninjured, they actually bounce and their sleeping bags cushion the fall.

Because we had such a big group, we had the only cabin with a bathroom (which made me squeal with joy on the inside). If I keep going to this camp with my girls, I'm sure one day I will have the pleasure of taking girls to the bathroom in the middle of the night, in freezing cold and through the forest with only our flashlights to guide us.

The forest was beautiful, piney and cold. We started the first day with a 7:30a.m. flag ceremony, not too early really. Then the day was full of activities, nature, science and even a walk to the dam of Pinecrest lake (almost two miles round trip) for the Brownies. The older girls, including Emily's troop, walked all the way around the mountain lake. It was a three hour hike for the big girls and Emily was thrilled at the thought of it but it wore her out. I did the shorter walk with the little girls. Sarah was kind of clingy with me there. The little girls that didn't have mom with them behaved so much more independently. I like to think that Sarah would have been the same if I had not been along.

There was a "cook" for the camp but the troops served all the meals, each troop was assigned a duty. The six year-olds served a meal to 120 people and even cleaned the community bathroom once. Imagine those little girls squished up noses as we entered the BOYS bathroom to clean toilets and sinks and floors! After they got over it, they fought over the rubber gloves and the toilet brush! Hilarious!

So it was a busy weekend for us...and for Tony right? He is beginning to wonder if I will ever be spending another weekend at home. In a very friendly and smiley way, he mentioned that I don't go anywhere and then all of a sudden I am gone every weekend! I just told him "it's okay honey, a few more weekends and I will be ready to stay home for a while!"

Tonight, Emily and I are off again with the troop, this time to Stockton for a Disney on Ice show of High School Musical. Emily isn't really into HSM so much but an ice show is an ice show!

A Very Friend-ly Surprise.

Wow! What did I do to deserve this? Sunday I was swept away by my girlfriend Nena for lunch, the theatre, a pedicure, and dinner! The best part was the simple pleasure of just being with my friend with no worries for the whole day. She treated me to all of this because I do have a milestone birthday approaching. The big 3-0. Don’t worry, I’m SUPER OK with it.

The details. Well, that morning my sweet family and I sat down for mass and our friends Victor, Nena and Emma showed up and sat right next to us. They don't live in the same town so it's not often that we see them at the church we attend. I thought that they must have plans for the day, just passing through town and stopped in for mass. I was just delighted to get to see them for that little length of time.

After mass, how surprised was I to find that the day had been planned for me and that they were there for me?

HOLY freaking MOLY!

Apparently the three of them had conspired and had this all planned for some time. The men made tracks with the kiddos for the day and Nena and I started with lunch at one of my favorite places for food. It was yum. Next she took me to this beautiful and very brand new theatre where she had tickets for us to see "Little Shop of Horrors", that funny and creepy little musical. It was great! I love going to a show with Nena because she really loves them, and so do I.

The pedicure was next. It was my first one ever. It was wonderful. We sat together in big comfy massage chairs and it was good, really good. The massage, the foot rub and the warm towels and the pretty paint. Oooooh, I may be going back there soon. [Yes, I am a goofball for showing you my toes, and for plenty of other reasons!]

After the pedicure, we went to dinner. It was such a great day, such a surprise, such a treat. I have not been swept away like that before and I liked it! I feel pampered, I feel special, I feel blessed. If that was your intention Nena, mission accomplished! Thank you so much, you're the best! And you better know it!

Gratitude.

My Forever Friend.

Sunday I spent the day with Sabrina, my friend of 25 years. Though she lives only about an hour and a half away, I had not seen her for almost 5 years. Dumb, I know, but when you mix busy lives with just that much distance, that's what you get sometimes. We had such a nice day together just catching up. We met early at a restaurant for "brunch" and we really did have breakfast, lots of coffee and then a few hours later, lunch, seriously. Then she took me to see the movie, which of course was pretty great. After that more chat, more coffee and lastly we took pictures and promised to get together more often.

I could say so much about my friend, we have so much shared history. Growing up, our friends, the great ones, leave us changed forever and so much of who I am today is because of her influence on me. In many ways, she saved me; helped me be better. For that I will always be grateful and have a place in my heart for her.

OK, before I go over the edge with love and affection, I'll turn and run in the other direction to share some random things that we did together...a very long time ago:

She taught me how to drive a stick shift

She took me snow skiing for the first time

She drove me to high school in her 1965 Mercury Comet, which made us the coolest craziest gutsiest girls at school

She took me to Disneyland for the first time when I was 18, we rode the teacup

She and her family once gave me a home when I was a little bit displaced

She drove me to apply for my first grown up job, and they hired me

Had countless silly great adventures in places like San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Hollywood

Had really big fights: she once kicked me out of her car (or maybe I demanded that she stop and let me out) on a desolate highway somewhere in Northern California in the middle of the night, then immediately turned around and picked me up

Inspired me to buy my first camera, a Canon Snappy

I am so happy that Sabrina and I found the time to get together, that Tony gave me a "day off" and that I am making time in my day and in my life to appreciate all the sweetness.

Let's Dress Up.

I couldn't resist! I found the wig as I was going through the Halloween box and she was such a good sport. First, I put it on myself and kind of freaked her out (oops, bad mommy). Then, she let me put it on her and I got this adorable smile. Using no words, she just smiled and looked at herself in the mirror for about 5 minutes.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party and the kids were encouraged to dress up as fairies, or pirates. Normally I am pretty inept at costume making but I think I must have been feeling it. I pulled out this piece of this and and another piece of that and with a few snips of the scissors and some brown eyeliner, I had created a pirate-boy.

Emily made him a hook with a plastic cup and some tin foil and he was fully in character, as you can see by the pirate-ish sneer he throws at the camera for me.

Sarah jumped into a cute fairy get up that was passed down to us from Auntie Renee. The host of the party gave her wings and a crown and she was the happiest little purple fairy you have ever seen!



Hint of Halloween? No, just dressing up fun. We asked Wyatt if he wanted to be a pirate for Halloween and he gave us a great big NO! He's more of a Spiderman kind of guy it seems. He did make a fabulous pirate though. Sarah would consider a fairy for Halloween but I think she wants to be a witch. We have retained Emily's old costumes and it seems that the witch may be the one. Emily is still undecided. Stay Tuned.

This Movie. This Weekend?

I am so excited about this! Elizabeth, the first one starring Cate Blanchett, is one of my favorite movies ever. The Golden Age looks like it will be good. Cate is great, and Geoffrey Rush is amazing. My only sadness is that there is no Joseph Fiennes in this one, I loved him in the first Elizabeth!

I think the last movie that I went to see at the theater was almost a year ago. It is time don't you think?

Will I get to see it this weekend? I don't know. I hope so!

Party for Two.

Sarah and Eva had birthdays in September and Sunday we celebrated in the best way we know how, by throwing a big family backyard party of course!

It was a really great day too. My sister in law Maria, Eva's godmother, came early and tied up all my loose ends. Well she did way more than that, she blew balloons and she even cut up onions!

Then there is my friend Nena, Wyatt's godmother, who made the goodie bags for the girls to give out to their small guests. She is the kind of friend that when you tell her to get the heck out of your kitchen and NOT continue to do YOUR nasty party dishes, threatens to hurt you. Just kidding, I threatened to hurt her but then she said she would like to see me try and then I had nothing.

Renee and her family were planning to come to the party until Renee got sick. I had to disinvite her because she was still trying to find a way to come (she lives almost two hours away) while she was still (sparing you the yuck) doing being sick things! Sorry guys, we really missed you. Thankfully, Renee is all better now.

If you're wondering why there are hardly any pictures of Wyatt, well, he stayed in that bounce house all day. The cake got him out of it, but then he had a tantrum and when sent to his room he immediately fell asleep.

The kids had fun, we had fun, then we were asked to be godparents. What a GREAT day!

Breaking News!

Me and Tony.

Godparents.

Yes.

Wow.

What a humbling experience to be asked to do this for someone. You want even better? OK, people you just adore asking you to do this. I'm on cloud 999 right now! I'm so happy that I made a pan of peanut butter rice crispy treats to celebrate!

I took this photo of Tony holding her when she was just home from the hospital. Her name is Mia, and she is our niece. She is the daughter of Tony's youngest brother Rafael and his wife Miriam, they have two other children, a daughter Issabella and a son Rafi. Tony and I are both very happy and flattered and blessed and grateful.

It's kind of funny you know, when she was first born, I felt a special connection with her. Tony and I were completely caught off guard when they asked us and then I remembered how I felt about her when she was born and it's as if it was meant to be, all planned out and meant to be. It's a wonderful feeling. We have so much to look forward to, and I can't wait. We will probably baptize her with her parents and family later this year. Big responsibility, truly amazing, I love it!

Ooooh, I just noticed the date today, this is the day we baptized Emily back in '98. Her godparents are Rafael (the same as above) and my sister Renee. Sweet.

I Rocked!

Thank you mother for taking care of the kids for us! We had a really good time and kind of went back in time. Well I did anyway, (read on) because Huey Lewis and the News is practically 80's royalty. I know you were thinking that I must have graduated from high school just a few years ago but it was really the 80's, so hard to believe I know.

Tony came home from work on Friday telling my mom and I that it was going to be the Eagles. OK, cool, I thought. So when we get there of course we learned about Huey. We had greatest hits Cd's wrapped in gold foil and bow waiting for us at our table. We sat with and chatted with the contingent that traveled from Alabama, had dinner, then the music. Tony and I were walking around, closer to the stage after dinner and I happened to notice that you could just walk right up to the front and that they had a dance floor right in front of the elevated stage. It started with that amplified heartbeat that begins the song "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and my insides started to get all giggly and before I knew it I was movin', really movin'!

It was then that I thought of the Alabamans way back in the back remaining at our table and I decided to make it my mission that they have a memorable experience and a rockin' good time. We went back to the table and shared the dance floor information with them and we danced our little butts off right up front with Mr. Lewis and those News! I kind of bonded with a woman from AL that was exactly my same age and H.S. graduating year. When I told her where I was from originally, she called me a southern girl, what a sweet thing to say! Maybe I am at heart. We laughed HARD about how much fun it was and how silly we were.

Tony missed all the excitement because he stayed a good distance away where he could chat and be friendly with his "work people." We would go back to the back to say hello to the guys and remind them where we were, then Huey would call us back up to the front with something like: Iwantanewdrugthepoweroflovestuckwithyouifthisisitdoyoubelieve
inlovedoingitallformybabybackintimeworkinforalivin'. It was almost as much fun as that Metallica concert Renee took me to in '94.


Bigger than TBB's, maybe not. Different era. I think of TBB's as I don't know, classic. I think of Huey as big 80's pop star. The guy is really very talented. He sounded EXACTLY like what you hear on the radio, he is not a young guy anymore and he works super hard. You know it's got to be difficult to be known for one (really cool) set of songs and know that your meal ticket is to sing those same songs over and over and over again without looking bored out of your mind for people that want it to be just like it was.

Too darn funny: As we walked to our car afterwards, Tony leaned over to me and said, "what was the name of the band again?"

Anyway, now you can be happy for me. I rocked! Seriously!

They Say the Heart of Rock & Roll is Still Beating...

and from what I've seen I believe them.

I feel like dead lady walking today and it's the busiest day of my life! So I 'll just leave you with that blatant little tease for now because I gotta go get ready for the second of three parties for this weekend. Just call me party girl!

Much more later...

Rockin' Good Time!

OK before you get all excited for me and think that I actually had a rockin' good time, I have not.

But I might!

You see, the company that Tony works for throws this celebration every two years. I have been to a few of them but not the last one two years ago. Eva was only a few days old at that time and Tony and I were not attending but a the last minute I told him that he should go without me. My mom was with me since Eva's birth a few days earlier and I felt comfortable with that decision. It's traditionally a dinner with hundreds of people, some kind words for all the employees and dancing. You can imagine our astonishment and utter disbelief when Tony came home at the end of the night, with his gift CD in hand, telling tales that he had seen the Beach Boys.

Yes the real Beach Boys. Kind of a sweet and endearing thing about my husband that you may not know is that he is almost entirely American pop culture illiterate. Before that night he had never heard of the Beach Boys but could possibly sing a few bars from Surfin' USA. This was very amusing for my mother and I as she kept trying to convince him that he saw a cover band, like the one she had seen on a vacation in the Caribbean once. We pretty much had him convinced of it until weeks later I found out that it was, in fact, true after all. I was a bit bummed to have missed that one.

That ain't happenin' again folks! I don't know who is going to give us this Rockin' Good Time but as for me I have big expectations. The rumor is that it is going to be even bigger. Universally, what could be bigger than TBB's with the same middle of the road mass appeal? I am quite intrigued to say the least.

Another really cool development in my near future is that I have plans to spend a day, (yes quite possibly a whole day as long as she does not try to dump me early) with a very dear friend that I haven't seen in almost five years (I am ashamed). So Sabrina, get ready because I am way way beyond excited to see you and have you all to myself for a day!

I really need this Rockin' Good Time, Tony does too. My mother is coming to stay with my monkeys, it'll be fun sharing the details with her after! I'll be a little embarrased to tell you if it turns out to be some obscure cover band. Just know that if that turns out to be the case, I still had a Rockin' Good Time!

Saturday = Soccer.

At least for the next seven weeks anyway. It's exhausting, especially to have more than one playing. One will be at 9 a.m. and another at 1 p.m. so you're basically prepping, watching, toting, and driving most of the day away. And of course it changes every week. But it is fun. Last Saturday was also picture day and it poured rain for Emily's 9 a.m. pictures. No big deal, we rolled with it. It will be interesting to see the pictures because even though Sarah's were not until noon, she went along so she could be included in the coach's picture with Tony and Em. So by the time her pictures came up at noon, she was a bit frizzy. The sun was out by then though, and Eva loves the umbrella.

Tony's dad, aka "Abuelito" came to watch Emily and Sarah play. (Renee: thanks again for Sam's old Spiderman jacket, Wyatt loves it, although it seems now he's outgrown it!)


Emily was a given, for playing this year. It's her fourth year and she loves it. But Sarah on the other hand, we were not even going to sign her up because last year (her first year) she was totally not into it. Not even a little. She didn't want to go to practice, she just goofed around with the other kids and was very distracted, I guess what you would expect for a five year old really. So for some reason we signed her up again at the last minute, I think mostly because she does like the game...at least in the backyard.


So you can imagine our surprise, and extreme delight, when Sarah goes after the ball like her six year old life depends on it! She has become a highly competitive little athlete almost overnight. She is actually too aggressive, meaning we had to continually remind her not to push the other kids so hard. The face she is making in the photo below; her game face, she kept it throughout the game. Unbelievable. Really. She's almost growling at the ball!


Grrrrrr!