Rogers Neighborhood

I HATE earth quakes!!!

2011-10-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes me more on edge then a earth quake. Anyone who lived in CA and was old enough to remember the 1989 earth quake we had here, probably feels the same way I do. There is just something very uneasy about them, I think its more the fact there is nothing I can do to stop them or brace for them. They just happen and you have to wait it out and deal with the damage when its done.

Since today is the "Grate California Shakout" (a state wide day where all schools practice earth quake dills) Its a bit ironic we would have 2 real earth quakes on the same day. Did I say ironic lets make that creepy!

Luckily I didn't feel the one we had at 2:40pm today and ether did the kids but this last one at 8:? pm we all felt. I feel so bad both the kids are freaked out. Its their first one and both said they never imagined it feeling like it did. Poor Justin told me he feels very nerves and he's worried about sky. My sweet boy is worried one will hit at night and he wont be able to climb down fast enough to help Sky. How sweet is that? He's scared himself but he's more worried about his sister. My little boy is showing some major maturity lately. Hopefully he remembers to help his mom cause I'm a mess :/ hehe.

Check out

2011-10-08T08:17:00.000-07:00

THIS HAIR!!!!

It was in a bun for dance class and when I took it out it did this. I love it!!! Sky has some beautiful hair.....I'm so jealous LOL.

Night and Day (long)

2011-10-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

That's my kids. They are like night and day!

Justin was reading "Super Diaper Baby" out loud and both him and Sky were cracking up.

So in to the story hehehe :)

So back to being like night and day.....
Parent teacher conference are always fun for me. I love seeing what my kids are doing and learning when I'm not around. I am very lucky I have some amazing kids who really do thrive in school (I think its just because Mick and I are not around). At home they both get frustrated when Mick or I try to help and I have to admit our patience with them is low when they start getting mouthy as we are trying to help them. So its very nice to see and hear what their teacher has to say, cause this is their own world to shine with out Mom and Dads help.

Justin is having some problems this year (which is new for all of us) Math has always been a strong area for him, but towards the end of last year he started having some problems, mainly with word porbs. His teacher said it was completely normal all 3rd graders had the same prob. Well this year math is really hard for him. Also he is having problems with reading comprehension, and his writing is sloppy (he doesn't like to write but he is really being lazy in this area). I got some great tips and things to do at home with him from his teacher (who is amazing by the way!!). He opened my eyes a lot to different things that might be causing the probs that I never thought of. I am taking all of his advice and will have Justin start doing the tricks he gave me to help him. On top of that I started looking in to a tutor. OMG don't plan on getting one for your kids unless you want to take out a second mortgage on your house!! Out of the 3 in my area I looked in to, here is what I found.

2 of them have their own curriculum they follow. They don't custom it to help Justin in the areas he is having trouble they just give him MORE work to do on top of his homework. These same 2 are also learning centers so Justin will be with other kids at the same time, not getting one on one help, and I have to drop him during their time (which is from 4-5, so he would be leaving school and going here for another hour, then still have his homework). One of these 2 were WAY to expensive and the other was still a lot, but much more reasonable ($240 a month, for 2 hours a week, but you have to sign a 6month contract). The last of the 3 is a in-home thing. They send a tutor to us they use Justin's homework as a guide to help him and they work with his teacher to find out more areas he is having problems so they can help him more. I really liked this one but its $$$$ its $51 a hour and you have to have a min of 2 hours a week! So at the low end its $408 a month!! So right now I think I will stick to the tip his teacher gave and see how he does. If he doesn't improve by the middle of the school year, then we will have to find a way to get him a tutor.

Skyla on the other hand is the complete opposite in school. She is thriving like crazy and her teacher gave me LOTS of extra work to do with her at home to help her stay busy in class. She is all ready reading at the middle of the year standard, and writes 3-4 sentence stories (which i guess is what they start working on in Dec, so now I have to encourage her to write 6-10 sentences with detail). Also the end of year standard is to write their numbers 1-100 and be able to do equations and understand manipulating numbers 1-10.....yeah she can all ready do this so we are having her learn to write her number to 1000, and work on math from 1-20. I'm so excited she is doing so well, I had such a hard time in school its nice to see Sky do so well and have it come so easily. Also it makes me feel better to spend more time helping Justin. Anyways the only thing her teacher is worried about is her getting board, but we will cross that bridge when and if it ever comes.

The only problem she is having in school is BOYS!!! Yep in her class she has 3 boy who I guess are bothering her. They are trying to get her attention, one pulled her hair, when she asked him why he did it, in front of their teacher, he said it was because she was pretty. The teacher told me this today, sky never said anything which I love because that mean she doesn't care LOL. Man some kids start to young with the crush stuff, I'm just glad my kids are not. The other boys are basically fighting with each other, mainly who gets to sit by her on the rug. Her teacher said she had to tell them Non of them get to and has to move them all the time cause they try LOL. She did say Sky is completely oblivious to all of this and is just mad cause they bug her. Socially Sky is amazing she is totally her own little person and loves who she is. She is strongly confident in her self and it shows at school a lot. She likes what she likes doesn't care about others opinions on it, and tries her best to work out problems with other kids before going to a teacher. She is one amazing little girl with a huge personality, I hope she never changes :)

I love my kids and am so proud of the little people they are and are becoming. Its going to be a year of hard work but lots of fun too :)

Justin's Demo

2011-09-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Well Justin did it he got up on stage and did the demo for his Dojo. They did some group stuff then his Shifu had Justin and one other kid step forward and they did some move just them. It was really cool to see and Justin had so much fun with it.

Set position....

Doing some long strides....

Some cool kicks....

Bring it on Justin's ready hehehe.....

Justin got his

2011-09-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

ORANGE BELT!!!

We are so proud of him, he has been working so hard for it. During the summer he was going to 6 classes a week (45 min each, 2 classes a day for 3 days). Now that school is back he goes to 3 classes a week, soon to be 5 because there are 2 Saturday classes now. Best part is he LOVES it and wants to be there. We do have a deal though, school comes first so if he doesn't get his homework done he doesn't go to class. Needless to say homework is getting done right when we get home, with no playing around (I'm kinda liking this hehe).

One thing I loved is during class today Justin had to do his testing for his belt in front of his whole class with only one other kid, our friend Jarod!!

Don't they look so cute in set position ready to go :)

Not the best pic but here they are being given their belts.....

Here is Justin with his Shifu......

Justin is so excited about that belt he has even said he will get up on stage and participate in a demo with his class at a festival this weekend. This is a HUGE step for him, cause Justin has major stage fright. Love seeing all the new self confidence coming out in my little guy :)

Smile

2011-09-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

Sky lost her first tooth :) wooohhhoooo bring on the jack-o-lantern smiles!

My new blog

2011-09-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

OK so I'm not getting rid of this one :), this one I use for our family.

But I did start a new blog, my new blog is called Christal's weight loss journey. I have finally gotten some motivation to start weight watchers and I wanted a place to record my journey will all its ups and downs. I also decide to make it a public blog so I would feel a bit more accountable and hopefully someday it would inspire someone else to get started on their own journey.

So if you would like to read it click the link http://christalshealthjourney.blogspot.com and read my first post. :)

Disneyland (trip #4)

2011-09-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks before school started we took our last trip to Disneyland. We have been lucky enough to enjoy a year of Disneyland Annual passes, and took 4 trips in the past year. We love Disneyland!! We went a bit nostalgic and stayed at the first hotel we ever stayed at (not to mention its our fave place to stay) Back in 2009 on our second trip to Disneyland, our room had these cute folded towels. The kids thought they were so funny (remember this pic)

Well on this trip our room had the same folded towels and as soon as we saw them we all started cracking up. Then Mick just had too.....

I love my hubby he has the best sense of humor
We got a free continental breakfast for our hotel stay so we took full advantage of that.

If you notice we are all wearing buttons. Since it was in Aug we had a lot to celebrate. Skylas b-day the month before, My b-day and our 9th year wedding anniversary is in Aug. It was pretty fun having so much to celebrate.
We hit all of our favorite rides like Indiana Jones.....

So cool how you can be standing in line and forget you in a huge theme park cause all you see is this...

Of course we had to hit the new Little Mermaid ride first day there.....

Riding in our clam shells....

Checking out the fish conga line wile we sing along to "Under the sea".....

The next day we split up for a bit. Sky wanted some girly time with mom and the boys wanted to go on some rides and have some guy time. So whats a girl to do in Disneyland but DUHHU get her hair done and get all princess out.. Before......

After......

I love having a girly girl. After she was all dolled up we met the boy over at Pirate Island and the kids got to explore, climb and play...

Then we headed over to California adventure but we had to take a quick photo stop with the Queen of Hearts.....

In CA Adventure they have this fun place that is called Wilderness Explorer's Camp. Its a HUGE play area with rope bridges, zip lines, rock climbing walls and of course Doug and Russel from UP....

If you go at the right time the kids get maps of the area. On the map are 6 challenges for them to complete. Once they finishes you can catch a ceremony at the camp site and become Senior Wilderness Explorer's just like Russel. Its a really cute little show they do and Russel comes out, Keven makes a appearance, and then you get to take pics with Russel and get your "badge" (its a sticker but its super cute).....

Every trip we do at least one Family pic that we buy as a memory to hang up at home of our trip. This time we got one from our first ride as a family on CA Screaming (I have to scann it so I can put it in here).....

Its a huge, fun, fast roller coaster with a loop, lots of huge drops and the best part a super fast take off. Every time we have gone Sky was not tall enough to go on it (you have to be at least 48 inch). It has been the only ride she couldn't go on for so long, and has been calling her name like crazy (she is my thrill seeker). As fast as my kids grow I knew she would be tall enough in no time but I was a bit shocked that at 6 years old she hit the mark. She was just tall enough for the ride and loved every bit of it. I think we hit it like 4 times on our trip. It was so fun seeing her face on it, I don't think she really knew how fast it was, so it was pretty funny watching her reactions. I'm a little more frightened by the fact my 6 year old is 4 feet tall (only 15 inches shorter then me what the heck!!).

It was such a fun trip, we always have a good time at Disneyland but this was our last trip for a few years.
Thank you Disneyland for all the wonderful family memories we have made with you. We will be back, we just need a bit of a break. Hhhhhmmmm Maybe we will do a Disney Cruise to pass the time? :)

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know my Mom and Dad and a lot of family live in Connecticut. Right now they are threaten by Hurricane Irene. Its kinda scary because there isn't much I can do to help and we pretty much just have to sit and wait to see what type of damage it causes. So please keep them in your prayers :) Also its a bit out of the ordinary for hurricanes to even hit CT but this one really seems like it will.

On a funny note the last hurricane the hit CT was named Gloria (my moms name) this one is Irene (her sister, my aunts name) hehe.

School

2011-08-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

This year I am PTA President for the kids school (I have officially gone crazy and need to be put away for taking on this job). In my defence I was hijacked in to this position. ANYWAYS.....

The kids start school tomorrow ALL READY! So to day the last day of summer what are they doing?
Spending the day with their Auntie Kamie, wile mom works at the school doing PTA stuff :). At least they get to play with their cousins today and I know they will have fun cause they love it over there.

Summer was way to short. They only had 9 weeks of vacation and to be honest I'm not ready for them to be back in school all day yet. I have loved having them home and we have had a fun summer. Its so sad to see it end. Both will be in school from 8:45-3:25 that's a long day. Not to mention that 1 or both have something after school tue, wed and thur.

LET THE CRAZINESS BEGIN!

Happy Birthday to.....

2011-08-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

ME!!!!!

Yep today is my birthday and I'm very proud to say I'm now 30!
Its been a pretty fun and relaxing day which is always nice. This morning I was woken up by 2 very happy faces wishing me a Happy B-day with a plate of toast and waffles. Dad gave them the run down on how to use the waffle maker and before work today made the waffle mix, brought down the toaster and waffle maker, and wrote down directions to remind them what to do. They were some good waffles and I'm pretty impressed and proud by how independent my kids really are.

How cute do they look! you can totally see how proud of themselves they are its so cute.
Check out these waffles don't they look yummy!!

the best part I don't have to clean this....

Later on once I got over being lazy we head to a friends house and hung out most of the day. She gave me some yummy treats from her garden which I'm still debating if I want to share :). Now I'm off to a PTA meeting and night at home with my family.

Cake pops 2

2011-08-17T16:56:00.000-07:00

So I never finished my cake pops post. Anyways here is how you make them.
1) get any flavor cake mix you want and back the cake according to the directions. Let them cake completely cool (best if left over night on the counter, do not freeze.)
2) brake the cake up with you hands till its all crumbled.
3) Add 1 can of frosting (I found Pillsbury was WAY sweeter then Dunkin Haynes so its up to you what you want to use but just take note)

4) mix cake and frosting really well together (it was easier to use my hands then a spoon)

5) take about 2 table spoons of cake and roll in to balls. Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

6)Put cake pops in the freezer for about 10 min just to firm up.
7) Melt your chocolate (1 bag of candy melt from Michael's does about 30 pops, and you can get them pre colored)
8) dip one end of your pop stick in to the chocolate then stick in to the cake ball. Let harden (about 5 min)
9)Once you have sticks in all the balls. Dip completely in to the chocolate to coat. Make sure to let the extra drip off for a bit.
***For a special touch I put sprinkles on top wile the chocolate was still wet.
10) place in your cake pop stand and let them harden all the way.

Here are the ones I did for Skylas b-day along with the tigger tails which were SUPER GOOD!!!

I even got to make them a week later again for my friends Twins. Of course she has Boy-Girl twins so I got to make green and pink ones.

Disneyland

2011-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE DISNEYLAND!!! It was a place I always wanted to go when I was a kid but never got to. Its not like my grandparents didn't have the money to take me, it was that they were a bit to grouchy to enjoy much of anything. I didn't do much as a kid.
Anyways I remember drooling over the theme park commercials that came on Disney Chanel. The old Mickey and friend cartoons are some of my fave and I have seen every Disney movie ever made. I'm undefeated at Disney scene it and pride my self on my Disney movie knowledge. LOL :)
Then I grew up and met Mick and found out he wanted to go to Disneyland just as much as I did and that he never got to go as a kid ether. Well 2 kids and years of want later, we finally had the money to take our kids to a place that always seemed so out of reach.
Our first trip happened in June 2008 and was as magical I we hoped it would be. Its crazy to think the kids were only 6 and 3 that first trip. Last year with our income tax we got year passes to Disneyland and have used them like crazy. They were well worth the money and we saved so much on each trip with all the discounts you get.
Sadly our passes run out on the 25th of this month, so tomorrow we leave for Disneyland for our last trip for a wile. I think 7 trips in 3 years is pretty amazing (and 4 of those took place in the last 12 months, making up for lost time lol) and we have so many amazing memories of our trips. The best part is we were able to give the kids something that meant allot to us, and they have loved every bit of it.
When we get back of course I will post our pics. This really has been a year of magic and memories and as sad as we are to see it end (for a bit) we are excited for other adventures we will have as a family.

Cake pop stand

2011-07-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

On top of the tigger tails for Skylas birthday I am making some Winnie the Pooh, and "Hunny" pot cake pops (ill post pics of those as I make them). I was trying to think of how to display the cake pops and tails when in the recipe it called for using a Styrofoam block to let them dry. I thought why not get a big one and use it as a stand.
I didn't want to spray paint it cause I was worried it would crack when I stuck the pops in so I opted to leave it white but got some ribbon to decorate it.
First I stapled the ribbon around the side.

Then I made a bow with some tails. This was the first time a made a bow and it was surprisingly easy.

I hot glued it to the front and fell in love with how simple and pretty it looks.

I cant wait till Monday to see it with all the cake pops and tigger tails on it.

Tigger Tails

2011-07-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know Tigger Tails are chocolaty, caramely, marshmellowy goodness on a stick sold at Pooh's Corner in Disneyland. These yummy treats are Skyla and Justin's favorite thing at Disneyland. We even have a tradition every time we go, we hit the candy shop first thing just to get one.

What beings them up is Skylas upcoming birthday and she has decided she wanted a Winnie the Pooh themed b-day. So I got the idea to make a few cute treats instead of a cake this year, one being Tigger Tails. It was fun and super easy to do so I thought I would share the "how too's"

What you need:
Jumbo Marshmallows
Lolly pop sticks
Orange colored candy melts
dark chocolate
Caramel (I did homemade, it was really easy)

You can ether by caramel candy's and melt them down or make it from scratch.
I made mine....

Caramel:
2 cups sugar
2 cups lite corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
2 cups evaporated milk
1 t-spoon Vanilla
Cook sugar and syrup on medium/ med-high heat till its at a nice boil.
Add the butter in small chunks and mix till melted.
Once melted, slowly add the milk making sure you keep the mix at a boil.
Boil wile stirring occasionally till a candy thermometer hits soft ball stage and its a nice golden brown.

Take it off the heat and add the vanilla. I let the caramel cool just a few min before i used it so it wouldn't melt the marshmallows.

Wile the caramel is cooking get the marshmallows ready. One Tail uses 3 marshmallows, 2 whole and 1 cut in half . This is what gives it a nice bumpy look.

Slowly slide one marshmallow at a time on the lolly pop stick. Make sure to alternate with a whole and then one of the half marshmallows.

When you have them all done stick them on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper and pop them in the freezer for about 10 min.

Once they are cold start covering them in the caramel, making sure to drip off as much of the caramel as you can. This is what gives them their nice smooth look.

When your done pop them back in the freezer for another 10min.
In the mean time melt the Orange colored chocolate melts (one pack does about 6 tails).
When its nice and smooth dip the tails in the chocolate.

Put them back in the freezer and melt your dark chocolate.
When the chocolate is ready you can ether put it in a decorating bag with a small round tip, or just use a spoon and slowly drizzle it over the tails using a long back and forth motion over them so the chocolate comes off in long lines.

I'm so excited about them, they came out super cute hope they are just as yummy.

Great America

2011-07-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we finally took the kids to Great America. We have been waiting cause its fun, but allot more fun if your tall enough to ride the coasters. We have been to Disneyland so much the kids get really bummed out going to places like this and not being able to ride things. Luckily Justin was tall enough for most of the rides and Sky loved the rides she was able to go on.

Had to take pics in front of the 2 story carousel with Snoopy.

Mick and I each took a kid and split up for a bit. I got to go with Justin first and was so excited. I have been going to Great America since I was about 6. In Dance we used to dance here every year then spend the day. When I was about 15-17, my mom lived a short bus ride from here and I would spend everyday all summer long at the park. I have some good memories at Great America and it was fun to finally share it with the kids. The Demon was one of my favorite coasters when I was a kid and taking Justin for the first time was the best.

We have however been spoiled by Disneyland and how smooth their coaster is. I forgot how bumpy this ride was and both of us hit our head on the head rest and had headaches when we got off, but we didn't let that spoil the fun.
A short wile later we met up with Mick and Sky and the kids got to drive Bumper cars.

Then we got out of the sun for a bit and had some lunch.

This girl can never take a normal pic hehe.

Next I got to have Sky by myself as the boys hit the coasters and bigger rides. I had to take her to the top section of the carousel, everyone needs to ride the carousel at least once.

Then on our way to the kid section of the park we ran in to my friend Star and her super cute daughter Neme. The girls were happy to be together and ride some rides.

Their fave the swings :)

We caught back up with the boys, watched a dance show then headed home. It was a very fun day and I cant wait till next year when the kids will be a bit taller and can go on more. Sky is itching to go on a big coaster.

Summer time is fun time!

2011-07-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

**Warning this is a hug post with lots of pics**

Right after Sky and Justin got out of school we took off to my Mom's house for a nice 8 day vacation.
My favorite place to be, on the east coast at my Mom and Mikes place enjoying the space and quite.

It was fun, relaxing, filled with laughs and family all rolled in to one. We had red eye flights both ways and the kids did really good. Going there they slept on the first flight which was 4 1/2 hours. They were way to excited to sleep on the second which was good cause it was only a hour and its much easier to have them carry their own suitcases when their awake.

Once we got to Mom and Mikes Justin had a chore to do........

He was so excited he got to drive the lawnmower all by himself. For a bit at least. The mower has a safety switch in the seat, if its not pushed down the engine shuts off. Well needless to say Justin didn't weight enough to keep it down all the time hehe. He still had a blast with Papa Mike mowing.

Sky however found my Mom's stash of dolls and was happily paying with them (my mom has a daycare so there are lots of cool toys around).

Both the kids LOVED having a huge back and front yard to play and roam in. Justin caught all kinds of things, some lighting bugs, huge moths, spiders, and frogs.

Skys favorite thing was playing on the big play scape in the backyard.

When I say the backyard is big I mean big check it out.

The kids also had fun playing with Maggie

and they just LOVED playing with their cousin Denny, he is quite the cutie.

One of the many fun things we did was the Science Center. It was really fun and had lots of hands on things for the kids to do.

We also got to go to the Dinosaur Place. They have a huge T-Rex out front named Monty, and inside the kids got to mine for rocks and minerals, and pan for gold (fools gold).

One of our favorite days was Denny's birthday party. We were so excited we got to be there for that. I got to help make his cake, and all of the family come over.

Had to get him the biggest loudest Dino I could find hehe.

We also went on a Steam train ride and a river boat ride. It was fun, wile we waited to board the train the kids got to play in this little kids area.
When Justin was little he loved Thomas the train. This reminded me of when he had his own train table hehe

She can never miss a chance to be on stage.

Walking around the Train yard.

Getting ready for our train ride.

On to our river boat ride, Sky showing off her muscles.

Wile on the river you get to see some amazing scenery. One thing I found was my Dream home right on the river. It has prime food stops..... This little boat is a floating Hot Dog stand (not kidding) Its a boat in the middle of the river and the guy turned it in to a hot dog stand. Pretty cool.

My Dream home also has a amazing view of Gillette Castle.

and it sits right on the river with its own privet dock and everything. Isn't it pretty.....if only right.

On our last day Me, Mom, and the kids headed out to Old Mystic Village. One thing I love about the East Coast is all the history of our county, and the first settlers. You can find and see the history everywhere, but first we need lunch mmm fish, clams and fry's :)

See I was there too, hanging out with Mr Blue eyes.

Then one of the things the kids have been waiting for. A trip to the beach, not just any beach a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. This was the fist time Justin and Sky have been to the Atlantic ocean and they thought it was so cool that they have now stepped in 2 different oceans. This was also Denny's first trip to the beach. One of my favorite pics of the whole trip. My mom with all 3 kids holding hands.

Justin and Sky dug for shells and played in the water.

I got Denny to stand with me for a bit with his feet in the water. He really liked it but was not a fan of the sand so mom and I took turns holding him.

Justin, Papa, Nana, Skyla and Denny. We had such a good time and as always it was hard to say bye.

The kids were troupers and even with our long flight delays getting home, they were really good.

Thanks Denny, Mom and "Dad" for everything. We had such a good time and miss you tons all ready. Love you 3 very much :) xoxoxo

Its all over!!

2011-06-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

School I mean. Sky has officially finished her first year of school and boy was it a fun amazing year. She LOVE'S her teacher, LOVES her friends she has made, and LOVES school.

They had a cute kinder play the day before school got out.
Sky waiting to sing and say her line....

Justin's teacher was really nice and let all the kids who had kinder siblings leave class to come watch the show. He was a pretty proud big brother :)

Here is Sky with some friends after the show....

The last day of school they got to wear their graduation caps and a good friend of mine made candy leis for the whole class. Vanessa was super sweet and got Sky and I these really pretty flower leis as well.

Here is the whole class with their awesome Teacher.....

Sky with some of her best buddy's......

And here is a pic of some of my new BFF's These are some of the awesome lady's I got to become really close with. You girly's rock!!

Ms. Cooper,

Thank you for giving Sky and Me one of the best school years ever. You have prepared her beyond belief for 1st grade, and really showed her a love for learning. I know all you have taught her will stay with her for the rest of her life. Thank you for teaching and loving my baby!

Hugs,

Christal

Not to forget Justin but he would not let me take a pic with him and his teacher, he is so shy sometimes. Ms. Grills has been one of Justin's favorite teacher so far and he was really sad to be leaving her class. He is also very excited by the fact he will be a 4th grader next year.....OMG when did this happen!!! He also likes to rub it in that he will be in J.R High in 3 years.

My babies are growing up FAST! but I feel so grateful that they have had some amazing teachers to help shape their lives.

Baseball

2011-06-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Justin just finished his 4th year of baseball. Who know he would love the game so much that he still wants to play 4 years later.
Today was awards day and it was a bit more exciting then previous years. The division Justin played in this year keeps score and only 1st and 2nd place teams and All star kids get trophies. The younger divisions every player gets a tiny trophy and they don't keep score. This being Justin's first year keeping score was neat. It was fun seeing Justin's competitive side come out a bit. For the awards each team has a chance for each kid to run across the field and be recognized for their hard work, and the coaches get to name the All Star kids on that team.

Here is Justin's team waiting for each of their names to be called.

Justin's turn to come up........

Check out that grin!!! Justin's team is 2nd place in the division so he got a really cool trophy. He could not stop smiling hehe.

Here he his with his trophy :) its way bigger then the ones he has gotten before so he is pretty stocked about that. He had a long demanding season and it was really nice to see all that hard work pay off.

Good Job Justin!!! We have seen you be completely worn out balancing school, practice and games all season long, but through it all you never complained and always gave it your all. We are so proud of all your hard work. You deserve that trophy buddy!
We love you!!

My New livingroom

2011-06-15T21:29:00.000-07:00

So a wile ago I post a pic of my crazy torn apart living room. Well finally here is a pic of the walls we painted and the new floor.

Before

After

I love my living room. We are looking for a new table and coffee table. I want to get black ones to match our shelves and fish tank. Some day we will get black lather couches too but till then I'M happy. I love my walls!!! We painted them antic copper. Its one amazing color and with the new wood floor its sweet.

My fave place......Mom's

2011-06-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

I LOVE my Mom. I mean come on who doesn't love their Mom, but my Mom rocks! Her and I have not always had a "normal" relationship but we have a pretty amazing one now and I just love her to bits. Its really hard living all the way on the other side of the country from her. I wish my kids could go over her house everyday and we were able to have Sunday dinner each week, but we make it work the best we can with lots of phone calls and visits as often as we can. Maybe someday I can convince Mick we need to move out by her.

Any whoo....I'm SO excited cause in just 6 short days I get to hug my mom. The kids and I are taking a nice 8 day trip to my moms. I cant wait to just be with her, hang out, and enjoying each others company. I cant wait to see my step-dad Mike (he is one awesome guy) and my SUPER cute nephew Denny(who has a b-day tomorrow the big 2 hehe). It will be a fun trip, mom and mike have some really cool things planed for us and I'm just looking forward to being with them. I'll post all about our trip when we get back.

Update

2011-05-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

I know I said I would try blogging more but until school is out I can barley find time to sit. Anyways here is a small update of what we have been and are going to be up too.

Justin: Has 2 games left then baseball season will be over (I think I might throw a party over this). This baseball season has been so demanding I don't know how Justin did it. Best part, its the most fun he has had, he LOVED it. Mr. Justin also just earned his Yellow belt in karate! Very proud of him over that especially since he had a 12 hour work out day to get it. School has been really fun for him this year as well. He loves his teacher and he got to do 2 really fun projects in the last few months. One was a snake project and the other was a solar system project. He had so much fun with each, it was nice to see his creative side come out.

Skyla: Kindergarten has been so much fun for her and she LOVES her teacher. She is really excited about open house and showing us all her work. Girly is sick right now though. We had a nice scare yesterday, sky spent 6 hours in the ER. She had a really high fever (104.3) and had a headache and couldn't move her head. Who knew those are all symptoms of meningitis!!!! Once they got her fever down, took x-rays and a urine test, she was able to move her head fine so they ruled that out (Thank goodness!). They still couldn't find anything wrong, so its just a bug. She is taking LOTS of fever reducer and liquids, so hopefully she will be good to go in a few days. We got to have her awards dinner for her poster contest she won. It was really fun, and boy can she spend money. Sky won $100 and I took her to target cause she wanted new cloths. She spent her money so fast it was crazy. She also pick out some really cute summer cloths (lots of skirts I love it).

Me and Mick: We are good nothing much has changed with us. Mick is still working like crazy and taking care of his fish. I'm still work at the kids school, and getting ready for PTA next year. The apartments are good too and things have been pretty quiet around here. Me and the kids are getting ready to go to my moms for a week as soon as school gets out. Then we are going to try to hit Disneyland one more time before our passes run out. So excited for summer!!!

I'll post some pics soon, I have some of our new living room, and a few of baseball and dance (OMG Sky's costumes are super cute!)

Oro Loma poster winners

2011-04-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

And one of the 5 winners of the Oro Loma recycling poster contest is...... SKYLA!!!!

Every year the sanitation district for our area has a drawing contest between all the school in the area. That is a lot of kids entering a drawing contest. Kindergarten gets 5 winners, Grade 1-2 get 3 winners and 2 honorable mentions, Grades 3-4 gets the same amount of winners as well as 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12. That's a lot of kids with very few winners if you think about it. Most schools have the posters as part of homework so just about every kid in the school submits one. Think of it this way there are about 2,700 kids in the Oro loma district that submitted a poster and only 30 of those kids win prizes, and sky was 1 of the lucky 30.

Sky was one of the 5 kindergarten winners, whats really cool is 2 other girls in her class also won so out of about 700 kindergartners who participated, 3 came from one classroom. Pretty cool if you ask me!

Sky is super excited because she now gets to go to a dinner and get recognized for her hard work, Plus she won $100, and her pic she drew, will be in a calendar with all the other winners. The calenders get distributed to every school in Oro Lomas district. In a letter they sent us it said that 17,000 calendars where distributed last year. That's A LOT its so crazy to think that.

I'm so proud of her she really put a lot of time and work in to her poster. She is super excited because Mick and I told her the prize money is all hers and she can do what she wants with it. She told us she all ready knows what she wants to spend it on......Cloths at Target! shopping here we come :)

Here is the link to the Oro Loma web site to see all the winners.

A New Home

2011-04-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

No we have not moved but our place did get a huge makeover that I'm SOOOO in love with right now.

Do to the spill this is what my house looked like till today. Yep since I posted about the sewer flood again, it has taken this long to get my house and office back to norm. There are still some little things that will be getting done over the next few days but so far I'm happy with it all.

stay tuned to see the big changes :)

Nasty......again

2011-04-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I posted back in October that the sewer line for our building flooded my office and part of my apartment. It was nasty, stinky and took forever for my office to stop smelling.

Since then my boss and I have been talking about what we are going to do with the office. We both want to completely gut it out and get nice new furniture in there and make it look like a nice rental office. The only thing stopping it from happening is of course money, its a pretty pricey project. You have to think we are riping out walls to take care of mold issues, riping out carpet, there is a huge counter that needs to be torn out plus we have to buy all new furniture and locking cabinets.

In the last few months we have been pricing things out and my boss has been saving so hopefully it would all happen with in the next 6 months or so. It was not a big deal and something we could live with, I mean it wasn't an emergency to get done anyways........That was till Fri.

Yep the line flooded again and came right in to my office and my apartment. We had a specialist come in this time to get as much water out of the carpet and to check the walls for water damage. They pumped out 32 gallons of nasty sewage water from my office carpet alone. Good news is my new office will be coming sooner rather then later.

Bad news, my house is a disaster because all the office electronics and books are in my living room till my office is done, and they have to cut out part of my living room wall. So our TV and all that is in the middle of the floor. I cant wait till this is done and I can have my house back.

O did I mention on top of this the kids are sick again. Justin had to miss his first 2 baseball games because he had a fever of 103. Then Sunday night Sky had the fever too. So they are both home from school today board out of their minds watching TV, in between fever spikes. My poor kiddo's summer cant come soon enough.

Wow its been a wile

2011-03-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

Its been way to long since I posted, sorry. To say my life is busy is a HUGE understatement. So just in case you cared (I know no one does hehehe) here is what we have been up too.

Skyla: My little ballerina is still dancing her little heart out. She is still taking Tap and Jazz and will soon be starting a solo ballet class. She loves to dance and sing, music is really one of skys favorite things. She is no longer in her leg braces or going to physical therapy for her toe walking. Walking flat is finally easy for her, but the toe walking habit isn't completely gone. Luckily with a little reminder she stops. She is also LOVING kindergarten. Her teacher is amazing, and sky is learning so much from her. Sky can read (which is still crazy to me) loves math, love to write stories, and is one of the biggest social butterflies (she puts me to shame hehe). She is also growing like a weed she is almost as tall as Justin, but is all legs. She also just got her ears pierced, and looks so cute with earrings.

Justin: My little boy is growing faster then I like to admit. For one, he is almost as tall as me. Justin is 4 foot 9 1/2, my soon to be 9 year old is only 6 inch's shorter them me!! There is only 3 months of this school year left and he will be a 4th grader and that much closer to JR high, he is smart and has found a love of reading and is willing to pick up any book and try it out. He is in kajukenbo (karate) and LOVES it, also Baseball season just started and he has been moved up. The division he is in is super intense, they keep score and it is played with full rules. Lots of back to back games and lots of practices. He's a bit intimidated by it but is ready for the challenge. He has had practice every day for about 2 weeks, even in the rain. Justin also got braces put on the end of January. He looks so cute with braces and its crazy to see how fast his teeth are shifting. Best part of them, they have boosted his confidence and he loves to show off his new smile.

Mick: The love of my life is amazing. He was just voted Employee of the month out of his entire company. I'm so proud of him and so happy to finally see him get some recognition for all his hard work. He is still enjoying his fish hobby and loves taking care of his 2 huge tanks (I love looking at them hehe). He also just had a birthday and I'm so happy I got to take him out for a relaxing day at a very nice spa in livermore. We got to have lunch together and then a hour long massage side by side, it was relaxing, fun and super romantic. Best of all Mick loved it and we are planing on going back in a few weeks (thanks again Vanessa for taking the kids all day your the best). I have been super busy and feel so lucky to have Mick by my side. He has picked up the slack at home that I keep dropping, and can make the most amazing breakfast. I love my hubby :)

Me: Where to start...... I'm still managing the apartments which is funny, crazy, and very entertaining at times. I volunteer at the kids school all day and am still work there during lunch as a LPS. I kid you not I'm at the kids school from 8:30am till about 4pm some days. I'm next years PTA president and that job has all ready started. I'm also still dancing but now all the adult classes are on Thur so I'm at dance from 6-9pm now, and still the 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency at church. My life is a bit busy and crazy right now trying to balance home, my hobbies the kids hobbies plus my two jobs, a calling and making sure I'm spending quality time with my family and friends. Yeah just a bit busy......but I love it.

On top of all of this we have squeezed in a few Disneyland trips and are trying to get at least one more in before our passes run out in Aug. Did a day snow trip and We are expecting a new family member in June (no not me). My sister and bil are expecting a baby girl in June and I'm so excited to be a auntie again, sky is just excited its a girl cousin this time (shes a bit out numbered right now 3 to 1). The kids and I are also trying to get out to my moms this summer for a visit.

So this is my busy life right now, I'm going to try to post more............hopefully :)

Always check out the clearance racks

2010-11-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

I LOVE OLD NAVY!!!!!!
We went there today to get some winter type cloths for all 4 of us. Well wile I was waiting for Mick to finish trying on some pants he picked out, I decided to brows the clearance section right by the changing rooms. There it was a cute salmon pink shirt with a gathered front, short sleeves (that's OK I can wear a jacket I told my self), in my size too! I picked it out of the rack and looked at the tag.......$0.47 yep it said forty seven cents!!! NO WAY, took it up to the counter and YEP it was only $0.47!!!! Needless to say I went through the rest of the rack like a mad women. Didn't find anything else but I sure am happy about my great find. I Love Old Navy!

Crazy!!

2010-11-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Never thought I would have to use that word to describe someone and really mean it. One of my "neighbors" is in short a nut job......No joke!

This person is bipolar, is borderline schizophrenia and has the beginning stages of dementia, and to top it all off refuses to take meds! SO when you combine all of this together you get... a 60+ adult walking around in nothing but a tee shirt and sunglasses yelling at them self. Yep that was all they had on and the tee shirt was not a long one ether.

On the plus side I'm really getting to know a lot of the officers that patrol our area and they are so nice and amazing people. I couldn't do their job.

So thank you to every police officer for keep us all safe and coming to our rescue when needed. Even when it involves a half naked old person :)

Water water every were and BOY DOEST IT STINK!

2010-10-11T00:14:00.001-07:00

This is a post LONG over due. A few weeks back at 7am I had a tenant knock on my door telling me dirty water was coming up into their tub from the tub drain. I got on my shoes and grab my cell and began calling Lou or maintenance man (have I ever told you how much I love Lou, I'm going to have to give Lou his own post he is awesome). I went to the tenants apartment with the intention of trying to plunge tub, but all ready knew Lou needed to come snake it. Now this tenant lives 5 apartments down from mine on the other side of the complex. As soon as I got inside his apartment Justin was at his door yelling for me. When I asked him what was wrong he told me the office was flooded with water!
As i ran back to my place more and more tenants came out to tell me water was coming up in to their tubs as well. Once I got in to my house this is what I saw in my office.

That is not shiny floors, its carpet covered by 2 inches of SEWAGE WATER!!
Now keep in mind this is my office which is connected to my living room. there where also 3 power strips under my desk that where making the nicest pooping sound and smoking (till I turned off the breaker). Once I got the power shut off I had to crawl under my desk and unplug everything. Can we say YUCK!
As I had Lou on the phone with me he instructed me on how to shut the water off to the building, because it was the main drain for our building that was clogged, and anyone who was using water was just going to make it worse. Not to mention the main drain is in out pump room on the other side of the wall from my office and there was a nice 3 inch geyser coming out of it, along with floaters (poop for those who don't know what that is) OK everyone all at once..... YUCK!!!

So the Laundry room was flooded and poop filled so was the pump room (the room through the door)
Nasty water and poop was all out front my door.
And my toilet had to get riped out so Lou could try to snake the drain starting at the front of the building working his way down.
This by far was the nastiest thing I have had to deal with. I can handle mold and stuff but other peoples poop on my floors DISGUSTING!!!
So now me and the owner are picking out new flooring for the office (not carpet, its a cross between vinyl and tile) Lou is going to come and cut the walls out and fix them so if the pump room floods again it cant come in to my office. I get to repaint the office any color I feel is nice and bright, and I got to spend $40 on the worlds coolest power strip!! Its water proof (shuts its self off if it gets wet), has 15 outlets and is a outlet and phone-line surge protector, with USB power ports. Yep I'm that excited over a power strip.......I need to get out more :)

Animal Crackers in my Soup

2010-10-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Sky's tap dance she did this year. It was to the Sherlly Temple song Animal crackers in my soup. I'm so proud of her she really trys her hardest and is very passionate about dancing. She is also asking to do plays now so we will see where that goes.

Busy Busy Me

2010-10-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

The kids have been in school for about a month and a half. I was really looking forward to it, a little alone time in the morn, then go work lunch at the school. Bring Sky home get homework done, go get Justin, do stuff around the house and enjoy or evenings as a family....... Yeah that was the dream before school started. Now its more like this.....

Get up at 7am
Get my self ready
7:30am Pick out Sky's cloths and get both kids up
Make them breakfast
7:45 get kids to eat breakfast and yell at (at least one) to stop playing and get ready
8:15 everyone puts on socks and shoes, fix sky's hair, make sure everyone has homework folders, snack, backpacks, water bottles, my LPS bag and badge, purse and cell phone.
8:25 Head to car to go to school, get in car and remember something, run back in to house and get or do what every I forgot.
8:30 driving to school, get to school, give Justin a hug and say by and that I love him (so non of his friends hear), walk sky to class, pick her lunch choice
8:40 go to office to pick up the 2 kids in sky's class that take the bus and bring them to class
8:45 school bell rings, go in to sky's class and do volunteer work that her teacher has for me till 11am
11am eat lunch and start LPS work till 1:25
1:30 head back to sky's class and do more work for her teacher, stay till the bell rings at 1:55 or if there is allot of work stay till Justin gets out at 3:25.
Tue sky has dance class from 3:30-4:30 other days we get to go straight home, kids have a snack and I do my school work.
5pm start dinner and clean house (sometimes I just start dinner and leave the house for Mick hehe).
Do apartment work, school work, kids homework, Tue and Thur nights I'm out for YW and dance class.
8pm get kids in bed, do more school work, or finally sit down and watch a TV show with mick
10:30 go to bed and do it all over again.
O did I mention i baby sit for a hour before school and 1.5 hours after school every other week, so I have 1 more kid in toe, and on Tue I take another kid who lives in my building to school so some days I have 4 kids in my car gong to school.

I wanted to post all of this because life has seriously taken ahold of me and my dearest friends have been put on the back burner. Luckily they know I love them and they love me and still call to make sure I'm alive or to kidnap me for a girls night. Mick has been wonderful and really sees how much I work and has been picking up the things I couldn't get too. Poor guy has been working a few weekends here and there too (with no extra pay) and is so worn out, but he still makes time for me. Even though I'm a busy busy bee I feel so loved and needed and it feels good. I love my family and my friends very much and am so lucky they still put up with me.
Life is good :)

Disneyland

2010-10-08T09:33:00.001-07:00

In August I posted that we got annual passes to Disneyland. We went in Aug and got back 2 days before school started. It was so fun and not very crowded (which is always a plus). I didn't take to many pics because I figured we will go so many times wile we have our passes I don't need to take a bunch.

Always have to have one family pic, this time by Mick favorite ride The Haunted Mansion.
The kids LOVE Michel Jackson (even before he died) and were so excited to see Captain EO.

Then we got to see Alice. Justin didn't want to take a pic but with some loving force I made him hehehe. Later he told Mick he didn't want to take a pic with her because he thought she was cute and he was embarrassed. Yep my son is at that age where girls are no longer yucky and cootie filled, Now their cute and there is NO WAY he can tell mom that. At least he talks with Mick about it (when he knows me and Sky are far out of hearing range) and Mick lets me in on the secret life of Justin with the promise to never speak of it again.
Have I ever told you how lucky Skyla is. The coolest stuff always happens to this girl. This is a pic of course of Skyla and Snow White at Snow Whites wishing well off to the side of Sleeping Beauties castle.
OK so here is how I got this really cool pic. This is a bit long so if you don't want to read it I don't blame you. Any hoo....
Last year I did a girls day with sky in Disneyland. We got her hair done and she got the Snow White dress, then I took her over to where the princesses are and she got so lucky that Snow White was one she got to meet (she cried when she saw her that's how happy she was). Its one of Sky's favorite memories and she loves reliving it through the pics I got. Well this trip she insisted on bringing her dress again, we had a Snow White head band this time and she was in heaven. I asked her if she wanted to go by the princess area to see some of the Princesses and she said no. The line takes forever and she was not in the mood to wait.
So Mick had the idea to go check out Snow Whites wishing well and get some pic over there (he really likes the well too hehe). So as we headed over we started to notice all these people and they were blocking the pathway to the Wishing well. Then we saw her, Sleeping Beauty was there on the path taking pics in front of the castle. I asked sky if she wanted to go see her and she again said no. So to avoid the crowd we took the long way around. We went under the castle and took the path that winds down the side of the castle as we came out of the hallway Sky was in front and yelled "there's the well" then stopped dead in her tracks. Walking right towards us was Snow White!! There where other people by the well, but Snow White blew right past all of them and made a b-line for Sky. Sky of course took off running full speed for her. They hugged and talk about how cute their dresses where, then Snow White took her to the well and they made wishes together and posed for the pic above. It was really cute and magical, even Justin knew how cool it was and whispered to us "I love Disneyland magic" haha so cheesy. So with a crowd of about 30 people waiting their turn with Snow White I pried Sky away and we went to hit some rides.
Cant wait to see what our next trip has in store for us (we leave in 12 days) Halloween Time in Disneyland cant wait!!!

Learning new words.... and the taste of soap

2010-09-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last night wile playing the Wii, Justin made a mistake and a lovely new word he picked up at school came flying out of his mouth. Lets just say it sounds like Hit but has a S in front of it.

I don't think I ever felt so enraged as I did last night. I think the worst part of it is I knew this day was coming. The day it would finally hit me hard that Justin is a child who is growing and losing more of his innocence every day. Needless to say we had a long talk about what that word meant, who he learned it from, how it makes him look saying it, How we don't use it, and the one that made him cry "would you say it in front of Heavenly Father?". So he made a very wise decision today and decided he was no longer going to play with the kids who apparently use this word and many more every day out in the field. I had some fun wile I was LPS-ing today and sent 3 of them to the office for swearing.

Since it was his first offense we let Justin off with a warning and a future threat. I took a old bar of soap we have in the cabinet and on the box wrote his name on it. Then told him if I hear it come out of his mouth again he was getting his mouth washed out with it. At first he didn't really believe me but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to test that theory hahaha.

Feel the Papa love

2010-09-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Back in March my Mom and Step Dad Mike came to visit us for my sisters wedding. When they came they stayed with us a few days and the kids were in Nana and Papa heaven. After they left to go back home each of the kids claimed a pillow that my Mom and Mike used. Justin took my Mom's (his Nana Pillow) and Sky took Mike's (her Papa Pillow). They have made sure that these pillows are on their beds every night.

Last week we hit Disneyland right before school started. When we got home we put everything away and relaxed for the night. When bed time came the kids got ready as normal when Sky climbed in to bed she asked "Mom where is my Papa Pillow?" Mick and I looked at each other realizing it must have been left behind at the hotel. Sky realized just as fast as we did she forgot it and her pillow was now a 6 hour drive away. Needless to say she began to cry and I tried to console her but it was no use. I then called the hotel and they told me to call back first thing in the morning when the housecleaning supervisor was there.
At 7am the next day me and Skyla called and found out that the hotel had her Papa pillow and they would send it to us. $7.50 and 6 days later Sky got her beloved papa pillow in the mail.

Her is a cute video of her opening the box.

Zucchini Festival

2010-08-21T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sky danced at the Zucchini Festival today and did such a good job. The stage was super tinny so the girls were a little to close but they did good. She only did one dance and was #2 so we were in and out in less the 30min It was nice :).

Skyla in "Everybody wants to be a Cat"

Happy Birthday.....

2010-08-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

TOOOOOO MEEEEEE!
My b-day was last week on a weekday so Mick had to work, but my extended family made sure I had fun.
First we headed out to Coyote Hill for a nice walk.

Group shot....yeah we are a big family :)
Isn't it pretty here?
Shot of the kids. There are 15 kids + Noel.....I mean here are all 16 kids (hehe love you Noel).
It was so much fun on the walk. The best part was working up a appetite!
After our walk Kamie, Ann and I (we missed you Janeen) Took me out for Indian food. Noel was sweet enough to babysit all 15 kids wile us girls went out.

I had never had Indian food before so I was really excited to try it.
My best girls :)
We stared out with our drinks a Mango Lassi (its like sucking a mango through a straw) YUMM!
and Mulligtawny soup
Lamb Samosa where next OMG they are so yummy
Then we had some Lamb Vindaloo, A veggie dish in the other pot I don't remember the name and the bread is called Garlic Nan (I took that whole basket home and didn't share). It was some of the yummiest food I have ever had! I cant wait to go back or to order out :)
Thanks everyone for making it such a fun and yummy day Love you all LOTS!! :)

Pre-K Camp

2010-08-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Last week Sky finished her 5 week Pre-K camp that really help her get even more prepared for Kindergarten. She had so much fun and really love school and her Teachers.

Sky and her teacher Mrs. Cooper
The teaching assistance, Miss Laura and Mr. Salines

Here is a super cute and funny video of Sky and her class preforming a song they learned in class. Its about 2 min but really funny check it out.

Why my dear tenants why?

2010-08-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Why my dear tenants why do you leave your trash everywhere? Do you not have any pride in your home?

Why my dear tenants why do you let your 2-9 year old children play outside, screaming and yelling at 10:30pm, till I come out and remind you AGAIN about the city curfew? Do you not have any respect for you neighbors who have to get up early for work the next day? Better yet why are your children not in bed?

Why my dear tenants why do you like to test me and see if I really will tow your car for parking where you shouldn't? HAHAHA at least you listened the first time I towed you :)

Why my dear tenants why do some of you make me hunt you down for rent? Was the letter you received at least 2 time a month for the past 5 months not clear? All though I do have to say you did act quick once you got the 3day notice, so thank you for that.

Why my dear tenants why do you shake out the dryer lint trap all over the floor? Is the big black garbage can with the sign "please place lint here" above it just not noticeable?

My dear tenants don't get me wrong I love my job, and to tell you the truth I get a good laugh when you get caught doing something and you get that "O Crap" look on your face. Its pretty funny hehe.

I know how much of a blessing to my family this job is and I thank my Heavenly Father for it everyday. I just wish some of you had more pride and respect and where more understanding of others and their feelings. O well maybe we can teach each other something.

O and thank you to all my lovely tenants who like to show how much you appreciate what I do by cooking me yummy authentic Filipino and Mexican food. You guys are the best and make my job just a little bit sweeter :)

I love my job!

Disneyland.... our other Home

2010-08-02T10:49:00.001-07:00

Disneyland what can I say its our FAVORITE place to go to (besides my Mom's, love you mom).

Neither Mick or I got to go when we where kids, and we both grew up a 5 hour car ride away. So when we had our kids we decided that if we could, we would take our kids at least once every couple of years depending on how old they where and if we could afford it. Well we went for the first time in June of 2008 and have been 3x's in the past 2 years.

We fell in love with Disneyland!

We get to do everything as a family, The kids are tall enough to go on everything so no one has to sit out, there are 4 of us so everyone has a buddy, Sky and Justin LOVE thrill rids, and the Disney magic feeling is just amazing. We love going because it feels like a real escape from the world. Even though we only get about 5 hours sleep each night the whole time we are there, and we are walking around for hours everyday, it is our "Happiest place on earth" to be.

Non of us mind the car ride ether. Mick and I bring books to read, and lots of different music to listen too. the kids each get their own "car bag". In their bag I put coloring books, crayons, work sheets, books to read or look at, different snacks, they get to bring their DS's to play some video games, and some toys to play with. They also bring their pillows and blankets cause all kids know if you take a nap in the car it makes the trip seem shorter (hehe).

This year with our amazing blessing of a new job and no rent, we decide to splurge, and spoil our selves a little. We just bought Annual Passports to Disneyland! I cant tell you how excited I am. We leave for our first trip on the 25th of this month, then we are planing on going back in October for Halloween. After that its pretty much when ever the mood hits hehe. I really enjoy Disneyland and all the fun family memories we are creating every time we go.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SKYLA!!!

2010-08-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sklya is 5 years old!!!!

My sweet baby girl is officially a school age child. Sky turned 5 in July and we celebrated by having a fun Hello Kitty swim party. Had some good friends over for some cake, then hit the pool for a few hours.

Isn't the cake super girly? I love it! so did Sky which is all that matters, she is Hello Kitted out right now. I love how she finds new things to love and gets so infatuated with them. She never really loses interest in things but goes through points where that one thing is all she wants to wear, play with, and sleep with hehehe.
We didn't really decorate the house but a fun pink covered table and Happy B-day sign and some Hello Kitty balloons (which are still inflated) was enough.
Thank you to all our friends who could make it over to celebrate Skys b-day, we love you all!

And she's OFF!

2010-07-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Skyla isn't so little anymore. Today was the first day of her summer Pre-K camp, and the beginning of her school career. A little intro to the camp she is doing....

Its called Pre-K camp and is put on by First 5. Its a summer preschool for kids who didn't get the chance to go to a licensed daycare or preschool. Its to help them be prepared academically and socially for kindergarten. The camp is held this year at Justin and Skyla's school so the transition from camp to kindergarten should be very easy for Sky. I did do joy school with her and she is more then ready for school but since joy school is a home schooled preschool she was able to go to this camp. Its M-Th from 8:45-11:45 for 5 weeks! Her last day of school is a little over 2 weeks before Kindergarten starts, good thing we have a Disneyland trip planed in that break :)

She was so excited this morn for school that she was up at 6:30am. She couldn't eat much breakfast because she had "crazy things in her tummy". She was dressed, teeth brushed, and even let me do her hair all with out a fight, and a whole 45min before we had to leave. She kept asking if it was time to go yet, and frequently kept telling me we had to go now or we would be late (I cant wait till she can tell time hehe).

The time finally came to leave and she was the first out the door. When we got there her happy attitude continued but the Shy Sky started to come out. Sky takes a bit to warm up to people, but luckily she has met her teacher a few times before so she was OK. We walked in and her teacher took her hand right away and showed her and another girl where their cubbies were. Then she took them over to the table games to get them started. Sky kept looking at me and I could see the "I want to run to you and bury my face in to your side" look. So I decided it was time for me to go before she froze up. I went over to her and told her it was time for me to leave and I would be back in a bit to pick her up. She gave a a small hug and kiss, I said have fun, she smiled, and I just turned and walked away. Justin could tell I wasn't myself and held my hand the whole way to the car and said "don't worry mom we will be back in a few hours to get her" how cute is that kid. So me and Justin talked the whole way home about what me and him where going to do with our alone time. Then we got in the house I shut the door and the tears came pouring down before I knew what hit me.

I'm so happy for Skyla to be out and exploring the world, meeting new people, making new friends, and trying new things. This is the first time she has even gone somewhere with out me or Mick and with people and kids she has never really met. She has always been with someone she knew really well or kids she is good friends with. This is a big first for her (and me). You would think with having only two kids it wouldn't be so bad. I have done the school thing for 3 years all ready with Justin (and yes I cried like a baby when he started too). Sky is a little different though, Justin and I are close and love being together but I'm so used to Sky having to tag along it feels funny that shes not here.

On a happier side I'm am glad she is getting this experience, and I'm glad I will be getting to have some much needed one on one time with Justin my big 3rd grader!! Poor Justin has had to do just about everything the past 5 years with Skyla in toe. I have only had one arm to share with him and only part of my attention. Now that Sky is at school its just me and him for 3 hours, he gets my full attention and both arms, and I think he is pretty happy about that :).

Fair

2010-06-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Skyla and I both got to dance at the County Fair. It was so much fun and HOT. I didn't get many pictures (because I forgot the camera) but I did get one good one with my phone.

Song "Everybody wants to be a cat" from the Disney movie "The Aristocats"

This costume is super hot and thick, Dina was nice enough to have the girls dance 2nd so they could get out of this costume as fast as they could. The Fair was fun, the kids got to hit some rides and played a few games, we looked at most of the exhibits, but didn't spend to much time after the show. It was hot, the middle of the day, and we were all tired.

Its OK though cause I won a 4 pack of tickets to the Fair from our News station so we are going back this Saturday. I'll take more pics then hehehe.

Swim Class

2010-06-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

We put the kids in swim class again this year. It so neat to see how much they have learned and remembered.

Justin's confidence in the water has grown tons. This year in swim class he isn't scared to try anything and pretty much knows he can do it. He is learning all the technical parts of swimming like how to turn his head to breath how to place his arms and hands and different strokes.

I got some good pics of him in class, here is one of him waiting his turn....

and here he is doing the back stroke, this was a big deal for him cause last year he couldn't even float on his back.

Skyla is loving her class as well and is very confident in the water. She is learning how to put her face in the water wile swimming, and they are teaching her how to use her arms to swim forward and do the back stroke.

Swimming back from the deep end. They were jumping in and grabbing rings at the bottom.
Kick those legs.

Baseball Awards

2010-06-25T11:29:00.001-07:00

Justin finished his 3rd year of baseball. This year was a lot different from T-ball the past 2 years. It was way more intense, serious, and demanding, but Justin loved every minute of it and grew from this new found maturity of the game. He had practice 1-2 times a week plus 2 games a week. Each team has about 3 pitchers and the kids pitched to the batters. There were way more real rules of the game enforced so it was a bit more challenging but fun. Justin had a good amount of really good hits ( this kid can hit far!). He also had a few really good plays, and by the end of the year he could catch anything thrown at him.

With the kids pitching its a bit hard for them to control the ball some times and Justin did get hit by a few balls wile up at bat. The worst was a fast ball he took right in the ribs HARD. He had a good bruise from it and we were almost worried he might have a cracked rib because he was saying it hurt to breath. We gave him some children Advil and a Ice pack, and the next day he was fine, just a big bruise.

He had some great coaches this year and we are sad to see them all leave (their kids are moving up next year). Hopefully he gets really good coaches again next year that are willing to work with him as much as these 3 did.

The 2010 Redwings

Justin holding up his trophy

Crazy Hair

2010-06-24T16:36:00.001-07:00

I'm so behind on my post I thought I would play catch up the next few days.

The last week of school was spirit week for Justin. Each day was a different theme and he had to go to school wearing the theme of the day (color day, tiger day, twin day and crazy hair or hat day). Crazy Hair or Hat day was on Monday of the last week. Well Justin doesn't really have any crazy hats, and he was in great need of a hair cut. So crazy hair it was.......

I put so much Gel and hair spray in his hair that it stayed like this all day, and we had a heck of a time washing it out. I was fun though and he got tons of complements about it. Best of all he had fun with it.

I need Ideas

2010-06-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

So my lovely Dance teacher has convinced me to take a solo jazz class. I'm still going to dance in my Tap/jazz combo class with the other adults, this solo class will be separate. I'm so excited about it because even though I love my group class and the lady's I dance with, I just don't feel very challenged. I'm the youngest (lets be honest here I'm also the most energetic) in the class. I like to do new and challenging things. I like to be over dramatic with my dancing and really have fun. The other lady's are great just not at my level I guess you can say. I'm the one in the class willing to do turns, kicks, leaps, the splits (yep I can do that), go down to the ground and get back up. The other lady's well they feel like that's to much for them and 2 of our dancers feel if they go down they wont get back up hehehe.

So the solo class was born! Now I'm going to be pushed like never before and I'm so looking forward to it. Here's my dilemma and where your ideas need to come in........... I NEED A SONG!

Since its a solo class I get to pick a song if I have one, I want to dance to. I have about 2 but would really like 4-5 that I can play with and see which one I really like. So send me your songs! Any era is fine, nothing to slow though, and with clean lyrics please.

Thanks all I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with.

FYI: This Sat at 10:30am Sky and I will be dancing at the Alameda County Fair (bandstand stage) If your there come by and watch. I'm sure if anything you will get a great laugh at me Dancing to Happy days in my black and hot pink 50's getup hehehe.

Me (caution, this is a sappy, whiny post hehe)

2010-05-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

About a month ago I had my hair permanently straighten (think about a perm but instead of making your hair curly it makes it straight). It took 4 hours but was SOOOO worth it. Mick loves my hair long but I cant stand it. Just about anyone who knows me has pretty much only seen my hair short. Mick and I made a deal through, if I got my hair straightened and I liked it then I would let it grow out more, well......

My hair is now almost to the middle of my back and I LOVE it. I wake up and its straight I don't really have to mess with it. I leave it down all the time now but once in a wile I like a cute pony tail. I'm so happy with my hair and to tell you the truth its made me feel better about Me.

This probably sounds so self centered but lately I have been thinking a lot about myself. I have been working on "Me" for a wile now, just trying to be happy with my self and enjoy all the little things of my life. Ever since I took this step back I have found some wonderful and scary things.

1) I really do have some anxiety about turning 30.
Why, I have no idea, I never thought it would be a big deal (and for the most part it isn't) but for some reason its bugging me a bit. I still have a year to go (Aug 2011 the big 3,0) so I don't know why its nagging at me now and I don't even really know why its bugging me.

2) I feel out of place with some of my friends, Most of my friends are having baby's or are going to have another baby in the next year or two or have really small kids, and I'm getting ready to send my baby off to elementary school. No more Super Franks or park days anymore its now school projects and field trips.

3) I'm excited for a new life with "Older kids". Skyla and Justin are so fun to take to amusement parks and no one has to sit out on rides cause they are tall enough to ride everything. We have sports and dance and its so much fun. They can go to the potty by themselves. I don't have to go in the same stall as them any more. They can relay their feeling and tell me exactly what they want. Best of all their good kids, they make good choices, and make me smile everyday.

4) I'll have time to work on me and do the things during the day that "I" want to do, and I wont have to walk as fast as I can from one side of target to the other to reach the bathroom before someone pees their pants (unless I'm having a really off day hehehe).

My life is fun, crazy, adventurous, scary, joyful, and filed with lots of love and I'm glad I have taking the time to sit back and see how much I truly have and feel the joy of being so grateful for it. My husband and kids are the loves of my life and all 3 of these people make me who I am.

I'm loving my life and the people who make it up......and my new hair!

We are all better now :)

2010-05-20T08:11:00.000-07:00

Boy did that last week take it out of me. I'm feeling much better (I can talk and swallow again) but I still feel a little drained of energy. Skyla is 100% and ready for summer. Justin is all better as well and Micks finger is back to a normal size hehehe.

Now we are just waiting for summer. The kids are going to do swim class again, then Justin will have a week of baseball camp and Skyla will be in a 5 week pre-K camp. The camps are just day camps but still Justin will be gone from 9am-3pm M-F, and Sky will be gone 8:30-11:30 M-TH. It will be fun for them (and me).

I still cant believe Skyla is gong to be in Kindergarten soon, its crazy to think about. Justin will be a 3rd grader WOW that seems so old all of a sudden.

I had a wonderful Mothers day. Mick spoiled me and got me a iPod touch (I think he just did it so he could have the old iPod all to himself now hehehe). Sky made me a cute card and a little pack of candy in Joy school. She even told me I didn't have to share the candy with her (hahaha she cracks me up), Justin made Mick go to Safeway and he picked out a really pretty orchid for me all by himself. I really did feel spoiled and loved on Mothers day.

On mothers day I also got to give a talk in church about Mothers and I really put a lot of thought and heart in to my talk, I also felt my talk was really guided by the spirit. Ever since then I have been reflecting on my role as a mother and how I am with my children. I feel so over whelmed and grateful that my Heavenly Father loves me so much that he gave me 2 beautiful children to raise here on earth and to be with for all eternity. My heart feel so full and I feel so loved that I just had to share how Much I love my family and how much I love my Heavenly Father.

When it rains....

2010-05-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Its truly does pore!

I woke up with a really bad sore throat the other day and was told it was more then likely due to allergies.....yeah right this is me we are talking about here......Sure enough it was worse the next day so I got to go see the Doc again and was now told it is Tonsillitis. I don't have strep which is good cause that hurts more but i do have full blown tonsillitis.

Mick cut his finger at work the other day and yesterday had to take a trip to the doc because the finger that got cut was now infected and 3xs its normal size.

Justin has had really bad allergies this spring. The skin around his nose has gotten really raw and is now infected too, not to mention he is a 8 year old boy so that means he doesn't wash his hands as much as he should. He now has 2 cold sours one on each side of his mouth and both are infected. The doc thinks it has just been transferred from his noes.

Skyla saw the doc today too and poor thing has tonsillitis too. She also gets to go see the physical therapist and get her leg braces tomorrow but that's a different post.

SO the whole Rogers family are on perceptions of antibiotics. Like I said when it rains it pours :)

Sky's blog

2010-04-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here is the address for a blog I started to help record everything that is going to go on with Sky and her toe walking issue. www.twinkletoesskyla.blogspot.com

I will update this as much as I can and try to keep everyone in the loop so you know how she is doing.

Skyla Update!

2010-04-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

Just to keep everyone in the loop Skyla is much better. She has not had to use her inhaler in over a week and she is back to her old self. Thank goodness cause i didn't know how much more I could take.

Skyla also went to the Orthopedic doc today for walking on her tippy toes. She goes Thur to have molds of her legs done and will have AFO leg braces put on. She will also start physical therapy 2xs a week for 6 weeks. After that we will see were she is and reevaluate. Ill try to keep everyone updated on her, she has lots of changes coming.

Up Date!

2010-04-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

I know I don't blog nearly enough. Sorry I just have so many things going on blogging this the last thing on my mind, but we have had allot of crazy, busy, exciting, and scary thing going on.

Justin: He is doing great in school and learning so much. He is defiantly ready for summer though. He turned 8 last month and was baptized! Mick and I are so proud of him. It was neat too cause he got to be baptized on his actual birthday. He loved going to his first faith in god class, but doesn't want to do boy scouts which is fine. Baseball has started back up and we are at the field allot! He has 2 practices a week and 2 games a week. His coaches this year are really working with him on technique. He has had some big plays and hits so far and that has boosted his confidence a ton. Justin has also taken up skateboarding. We got him a skateboard for his b-day and he loves it and isn't to bad on it ether (no broken bones or stitches yet so I think we are OK). All in all he is good and having fun. He is most looking forward to summer, swimming, beaches, no school, Disneyland, and anything else mom can talk dad in to doing :)

Skyla: Where to start with this one. She has been quiet for the most part, enjoying Joy school, loving dance class having fun with her friends. Then she had the dreaded Doc visit for her kindergarten check up (read all about it down below). She is doing great loves the rain and jumps in the puddles any chance she gets. She is looking forward to her b-day and summer time. She cant wait to go to Disneyland and Santa Cruz, going fruit picking, swimming in the pool and school shopping (I'm not kidding she really is looking forward to this).

Mick: He is officially Fish crazy!! Mick loves his fish it his hobby and stress reliever, so I don't complain about it. We had a 36gal tank in the living room but some of our fish were starting to out grow it, so Mick found a really good deal on craigslist for a 90 gal (yes you read those numbers right I said 9-0 as in Ninety) tank for really cheap. Its very pretty and I love it. It looks so nice too and Mick does such a good job keeping it up. He also got a new fish a mudskipper! He is the coolest thing ever we are just hopping he doesn't commit fishy suicide and climb out of the tank. So To recap for those of you keeping track we have 3 tanks in our house. A 90 gal in our living room, a 65 Gal in our bedroom and a 10 gal in the office. The 36 mick is getting rid of and I made it clear he isn't aloud to get any more tanks hehehehe :)
Mick has also been doing a bit of work around the apartments and really enjoying not having to pay rent anymore.

Me: I'M in my 8th week of school and doing pretty good (I have a A in one class and a B in the other so I cant complain). It really nice taking classes on line and being able to go at my own pace. We became manager of the apartments we live on March 1st and that has been fun. The tenants are really nice and we haven't had any problem's yet, just the normal maintenance stuff. I'm still in dance class and excited for our new tap dance this year, its to Happy Day's and I get to be really corny and cheesy with it its so fun. My sister got married at the end of march so we got to have my Mom, step Dad and nephew come out and visit. Its always nice when they come but we miss them so much when they go. Easter was fun nothing big, the kids did eggs and had fun with all the toys and candy in their baskets. I'm still in Young women's and love it, things have just been crazy lately and I feel like I have not been able to participate much. I'm most looking forward to Disneyland this year. Since we have a little extra money we decided to get a year pass to Disneyland. I cant wait we are going to be so Disney-ed out I love it!

OK so as I mentioned Skyla went to the Doc on April 1st this was for her kindergarten entrance exam. So they did the whole shebang, she got weighed, and measured, had a hearing test a vision test and a full physical. The Doc and I talked about her walking on her tippie toes (yep she still does that all the time) and decided its time for her to see a specialist about it. So lots of Doc visits are going to be in our future for this one. Then of course cam the dreaded BOOSTER SHOTS!!! and when I say dreaded I mean stupid, retarded, flipping stafamackingfibideygijbit and a few other words I don't want any kids to read, Shots! She was given 4 shots and a TB test all in one visit and she had a allergic reaction to them. Not just a fever or her eczema flaring up but a Fever, eczema, coughing till she threw up every hour, ASAMA induced reaction. Yep skyla has been diagnoses with allergie related Asama! So now when ever her allergies act up we have to watch her same thing if she gets a cold. Poor thing has been sick for the passed 12days and finally getting better. She is still having to use her inhaler at least once a day (when the coughing fits start) but that's about it. Once she gets it the coughing goes away and she is much happier. She goes back to the Doc tomorrow for a check up and to have the papers filled out for school so she can have her inhaler in the office in case she needs it next year. Fun Fun Fun!

All Moved in!

2010-03-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, Mick and I took over managing the apartments where we live. Our good friends and passed managers Melissa and Ryan got us the job. Its been great! We are now in a corner unit 2 bedroom DOWN STAIRS!!! I love being down stairs exceptionally with the kids. Our living room is a bit bigger then what it was but the bedrooms are a bit smaller. The kids love that though cause we told them we will get them bunk beds. We have a dish washer!!! I cant tell you how much I love it all ready.

Then the lovely storage room. I have no idea how we fit everything we did in to our apartment. About half of what was in there is now in the storage room. Its so nice to have space and closets in our place now. The tenant's have been really nice to me so far. No one has really called or asked for anything yet. A few came over to introduce them self's witch I thought was kinda cool.

I have never really had to move so I didn't really think how i would respond to it. We switched apartments from a 1br to a 2br when i was pg with skyla but we didn't have much and I don't remember it even being that big of a deal. This time I couldn't get things put away fast enough! I felt claustrophobic with things every where. Mick laughed at me cause I got everything put away (except pics hung up) on sat once we got it all down. Its nice cause it all ready feels like home.

Best part of the move........J.D!!! Our friend J.D was one of the few guys that came to help Mick move down the heavy furniture. J.D and Joe brought down our big couch, and with Mick and Derick helping they tried for about 10min to get the thing through the door. Our couch is cheap so it had some give. Mick finally gave the OK to just jam the things in and J.D went at it. He was yelling "Mother of peril" "COME on baby" "Go on GO" "GOOOOO" "Come on"...... I was in tears on the floor laughing like crazy!!! The best part was they got it thought the door and Mick looked at J.D and said "Man you sound like you were coaching a birth" J.D said " It felt like I was". We all started cracking up like crazy. I wish I would have wiped out the camera for that one. All night I kept giggling about it and once Mick caught on to why I was laughing we both just started cracking up. Even now I cant look at the couch with out smiling.

Thanks for all the help guys you are the best :)

All in all we are settled in and ready for the rest of this crazy month of events.

Snow Day

2010-02-15T08:48:00.000-08:00

Saturday we took the kids up to a snow park in Strawberry. It was SO NICE!!! The weather was perfect, snow was great, the drive was even nice, and the view was amazing.

This snow park was a inter-tubing park and it had a big play area with these huge snow hills for the kids to play on.

Climbing the hill.....
Justin got up there no problem, Sky had a bit harder time and Justin had to hold her so she wouldn't fall.
She liked sliding down better anyways.
I asked her to make me a snow ball so I could take her pic, here is the pic I got......
Then i got this one right before she through it at me...... silly girl :)
Justin on top of the hill making snowballs

Had to eat some snow

My new favorite pic
See I was there too...... I have to tell you Justin took this pic and He did a really good job too.
Trying to make a snowman.........
Sky gave up and left Mick high and dry hehehe
Snow angles!
I have no idea what happened here..... He was digging in the snow then I looked again and he was like this hehehehe
Skyla having a blast going down the hill
Justin had a great time tubing too till the last run. The whole day he was going down on his butt and was fine. Mick and I were going down on our tummy's and thought it was way better. Well Mick talked Justin in to going down the last time on his tummy. He got about 6 feet down the mountain when he hit a bump and flipped completely over. He completely flew off the tub and in to the air. I was freaking out but the the second he hit the ground he jumped up and through his hands in the air to lets us know he was ok.
Poor guy had to walk a long way to get to the end of the run. He was ok and didn't even cry till he was sure no one but me would see (silly boy). His back and neck were a bit sore the rest if the day and he has some road rash on his tummy, but all in all he is fine and cant wait to go back next winter.

We had such a fun trip and the kids loved every min of it I think their first snow tip will be one they remember.

Can you guess who Skyla's New BFF is?

2010-02-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Ill give you a hint........

Got it?

Yep thats right my daughter is OBSESSEST with Michael Jackson!!
This is her favorite pic of him and its all so her fave song (Beat it)

He was a huge influence for me too when I was a kid. I remember being so excited for his new music and videos and its really neat to see Skyla be so in to it. I mean the girl can sing you songs if you ask her too and she can even copy some of the dance moves from his videos.

She got a new pet hermit crab and named him Michael. Its also really funny to hear her talk about him cause she just calles him "Michael" like their old friends. It is really cute. What made me want to tell you all about this was a comment about something skyla had said to my friend sarah on another post I left. This is the kind of things she says that have me cracking up.

"I forgot to tell you what Skyla said when I was teaching Joyschool last week. It was the day we celebrated her birthday so I made them muffins (I didn't have cake, but I put whipped cream on them to be frosting)...anyhow, she was saying that she is going to ask Santa for Michael for Christmas. I was confused "Michael who?" "Michael Jackson (duh). I am going to ask for him to come down from Heaven." It was really hard to keep a straight face...just so you're prepared. :)"

My daughter is one of a kind thats for sure :)

Sorry

2010-01-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

I know my blog has been uneventful but our lives has not. To be honest I have just been lazy about blogging.

Ok so here are some new things going on with us.

Justin: Has been growing up like crazy lately. He is in to fixing his hair everyday now and making sure he looks "cool" for school. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact a girl in his class told him he was handsome and she kinda has a crush on him? hhhhhhmmmmmm I wonder? hehehe. Also he has lost his top front tooth and has the funniest cutest smile right now. He is also getting ready for baseball to start again and really excited to be in his Auntie Nene's (my sister Nicole) wedding.

Skyla: is a dancing and singing machine right now. She LOVES music and cant seem to get enough of it. She is having lots of fun in her dance class and is completely infatuated with Michel Jackson. She is doing wonderful in Joy school and talked about starting kindergarten everyday. She is also growing like crazy she is so tall its crazy.

Mick: is doing grate he is still working his butt off but hopefully that will change as we had a interview and might be the next Managers for the apartments where we live. Thanks to Melissa and Ryan for pushing for us we feel we pretty much have the job but are still waiting for a solid answer. As soon as we get it Mick is gong to look for a new job with normal hours. At least this way he will be home more and less stressed out.

Christal: is crazy!!!! The biggest thing for me right now is IM GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!! Im taking online classes to get my Associates in elementary education then I will go for my Bachelors in Liberal arts and look forward to the day that I will be a Kindergarten teacher. Im really excited/nerves and am looking forward to a new challenge. Im still dancing too and LOVE it Im also still working as a LPS at Justins school and helping out in his class 2 days a week. Im also helping with my little sisters wedding and planning a party for her (dont worrie im being nice and keeping it clean hehehe). Im also very happy for my Mom and Mike. They are getting my nephew Denny (my brothers little boy) my mom is in Montana right now picking him up. They get to foster him till all the court stuff is done then they are going to adopt him. I also got a new calling at church Im the 2nd counselor in the Young woman's presidency. So I now have ALLOT of things to do for church. The best part is being with these young women. These girls amaze me each and every day and I just love them to death.

Its a crazy busy time of life right now but SO MUCH good is coming out of it and i feel very blessed and loved. Life is good :)

Thanksgiving cooking day 3 (sorry a few days late)

2009-11-29T15:31:00.000-08:00

So I forgot to take pics of all the good food I made, but lets just say it came out pretty good. Here is what the table looked like after we ate (some of the food is on the counter not in the pic). Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cooking Day 2

2009-11-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Dinner rolls mmmmmm Yummy dinner rolls. It was really easy to make and it seemed to rise like it was supposed to. This recipe was nice cause it had instructions on how to make the recipe then refrigerator them for up to 24 hours. I'll take pic's of them when they are cook tomorrow and let you all know how they taste. If everything (even my apple pie) comes out good I'll post the recipes for you all.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I am so thankful this year for so many things, and very grateful to be able to cook a wonderful meal for my family tomorrow.

Here are the pics of my 24 yummmy dinner rolls.
Its days like this that make me we wish for a bigger fridge. Or the cooling drawers in the counter like what Martha Stewart has that would be nice.
Tomorrow I'll post pics of everything we have for Dinner! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Thanksgiving cooking Day 1

2009-11-24T15:42:00.001-08:00

This year I decided to save us some money by making a few things for Thanksgiving dinner from scratch. I have just about everything on hand so I didn't have to spend much to get the rest of what I needed. OK and lets just face it homemade is MUCH better anyways. It might take all day to make but it sure does taste better. That and Justin is on vacation from school so I needed something to do :)

Well somethings take a few hours to make so I had to make a list of what needed to be done first and how many days before T-Day would I need to make them. Well Today was "PIE DAY" I made Pie crust from scratch for 4 Pie's!!!

1st up........Cherry Pie

I have never made a cherry pie before and after reading some recipes and comments it made me a tad nervous. Especially since my last 2 attempts at a apple pie didn't go so well. So I cheated a bit and got canned pie filling and took extra time with the crust to make it look pretty.

2nd............Apple pie (my nemesis!!!)

I have tried to make apple pie twice before and it came out like soup the first time, and the second didn't taste good at all and got tossed. This time I took my time! Wile the cherry pie was baking I cut up my apples and kept re-reading the recipe to make sure I didn't forget anything. Well it sure smells good and looks pretty good to if I do say so. On T-Day it will get topped with a Carmel pecan topping. YUMMMM! (cross your fingers for me cause if this one doesn't come out right I give up on apple pie)

3rd.......... Pumpkin Pie (by request of Justin)
Pumpkin Pie is Justin's favorite pie. I like it too so does Skyla (Mick's not a fan) but Justin could eat a whole one with no problem. SO I made him a pumpkin pie. The recipe I have for pumpkin pie make 2 pies so we gave one to our good friends the Becks. Tis the season of giving :)

Here is a pic of my 4 beauties.

O and I found something fun to do with the left over pie crust and pumpkin pie filling.........Mini pies! I have a small muffin pan and just took the leftover pumpkin pie filling (witch wasn't much) and the crust that got cut off the other pies and made these cute Pumpkin pie bit's. Hopefully this will keep the kids out of the other pies till Thanksgiving.
Tune in tomorrow I'll be making dinner rolls from scratch :)

Count your Blessings

2009-11-13T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have been stressed, feeling over worked and just tired in general. Little things have been happening to make me stress out even more on a daily base it seems. Even with all this going on I feel I just really need to write down a few of my blessings.

** The Gospel!!! I cant tell you how many times I have been so overwhelmed lately that I had to just stop and drop to my knees in prayer, and have been uplifted and felt Heavenly Fathers love for me. My problem's didn't disappear but they where for sure made much easier for me to handle. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and knowing the things I know now. I'm grateful to have it be a part of my everyday life. I'm SO grateful that my children have the chance to grow in the church. I am VERY grateful for the plan of salvation and for Temple work and the knowledge I get to be with my family for all time and eternity.

** My Husband!! Mick is the most amazing Husband and Father. He is always so supportive me, very understanding and one of the most unselfish people I know. He works so hard to provide for us and shows his love for us everyday. I can never say I don't feel loved by him. I am so grateful I get to keep him forever!

** My Son!! Justin is just getting so big that i now tear up when I see his baby pics and remember the days of him being little. I love his sweet personality and is sweet innocence. I love watching him learn new things and get excited to try new adventures. I LOVE the fact that school is fun for him and he likes to do Math for fun when he is board. I love his goofy side, the other night he asked me to turn on his fan on high. I told him no because is was cold out and he didn't need it. He looked up at me and said "Mom you know I'm just going to get up and turn it on when you shut the door". I couldn't help but crack up at that and he had a huge grin across his face too. So I had to turn on the fan then hehehe.

** My Daughter!! This girl is growing by leaps and bounds these days it seems. I cant believe she is going to be a kindergartner is just 9 months. She is so smart and loves to learn, she understands how important friends and family are and express how much she loves them so often it just makes my heart melt. I love her love of simple things and, her love of shopping for shoes and cloths. How often do you get to hear a parents say they love to take their 4 year old cloths shopping with them hehehe. She is a strong young lady all ready and I hope she keeps that as she grows up. I also hope she keeps her goofy side, she loves to play jokes on Me, Justin and Mick and I have to admit most of the time she gets us and we all end up on the floor laughing.

** Good Friends!!! this is a BIG one for me. We don't have any family close by and some times feel very alone and over whelmed cause we don't have family to ask for help. Luckily for us we have the most amazing friends and just about all of them feel more like family then most of our really family does. With out my friends I don't know how I would make it through the day sometimes. I am very grateful for my friends, you guys mean allot to me and I hope you all know how much you are loved.

** My car!! OK I know that sounds silly but its so true. There has not been a day since we got my truck that I have not felt grateful for it. Mick and I went 10 years with 1 car between the 2 of us. We have never had 2 cars at one time. OK i take that back we did for 3 months one time. Anyways this car feels like such a big blessing every time I get in it. I'm grateful to have a dependable car for my family to travel in, I'm grateful for the room it has and the fact I don't have to play Tetris with the trunk every time I go to Costco hehehe.

OK so that is just a few of my blessings. I know this is a different post then what I normally put on here but I have just been feeling so blessed lately i had to share.

A New look for Sky

2009-11-01T14:40:00.000-08:00

The last time we cut Skyla's hair she was just about 2 years old and it was still baby hair and all uneven. Since then I have not touched her head and Mick convinced her that only Boy's have short hair. She would not let you even pretend to cut her hair she LOVED her long hair. She also HATED brushing it everyday and would fight me when I wanted to fix it all up cute (she loved going to salon to get it fixed). Well we had Amber and her family come to visit a few weeks ago and Sky and Ari became fast friends. So one day I asked Skyla if she would like her hair cut like Ari's (a chin length bob). To my surprise she said YES!

So here is her before pic............

and here is After...........

I LOVE IT!!!!!! She doesn't cry when we brush it and most of the time I don't have to fix it except to put in a cute clip and she lets me do that with out a fight. I love her new cute hair, but I do have to admit I miss her long hair (don't tell Mick I said that). The best part is we cut off 13inches and it all got donated to "Locks of Love" a place that makes wigs for sick children who have lost their hair due to kemo and such. I have tried to explain this to Sky and all she says is she is happy some little girl gets to play pretend with her old hair LOL.

Halloween fun

2009-11-01T14:21:00.001-08:00

So we had LOTS of Halloween fun this year. The kids got to go to the Church Trunk-or-Treat, and a Party at a friends house then we went trick- or- treating Halloween night with my friend Kamie and her family. All of this fun stuff and I didn't take my camera anywhere and have no pics of the kids in their costumes. Yeah I know bad Mommy. I did how ever remember to take pics wile they carved their pumpkins so this will have to do.

This year Justin got to carve his pumpkin all by himself. He did a great job too.

We let Sky draw what she wanted her pumpkin face to look like and she wanted to put these halloween stickers on the back.

I think it cam out cute. We had such a fun halloween but I'm looking forward to the next holiday now.

BFF'S

2009-10-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

My best friend (OK she is more like a sister :) ) and her family came down to visit us this passed weekend. We had such a blast with them here and miss them so much all ready. The kids where all BFF's right from the bat witch was really nice. The Girls (Sky and Ari) all ready made plans for when we are all going to visit again LOL. Justin misses his little shadow Enoch and I'm having baby with drawls with out Penny here.

The Kids.....Skyla, Penny, Ari, Enoch and Justin

Our Beautiful girls
Our handsome Boys
Thanks for the spontaneous trip down here Banks family We love and miss you :)

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

This year we got to go to the Pumpkin patch with our good friends/family the Ferris's. It was so much fun the kids had a blast all together.

Justin, Aidan, Skyla, Matthew and Alyssa.

Aidan was in love with the wagon and wanted to pull it himself so bad.
Mick and Sky. She is such a daddy's girl.
The rule with picking pumpkins for the kids is if they can carry it they can have it. Well here is Matthew and the pumpkin he picked. LOL I was cracking up and just waiting for him to drop it LOL.
After picking pumpkins the kids went and played on this HUGE pyramid of hay bails.
Ran through a corn maze

Then we went on a hay ride.

After that we headed to the Spirit store. Justin has been terrified of this store and last year and since it opened this year would no step foot inside. Well he decided that he would go in if I promised to take a pic of him there so he could show his class he did it (alto of the kids in his class are scared of this store).
So here it is my brave guy and his very happy for him sis......
Good job over coming your fears buddy I love you!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

OK so its not Halloween yet but that holiday feeling is in the air and I cant wait!!! So for some fun here is some pics going down memory lane of the kids.

Justin's first Halloween 2002 7months old

Cutest Pumpkin ever!
2003
Captain feather sword form the wiggles
2004 Buzz Lightyear
2005 Darth Vader
Skylas first Halloween 2005 Another Cute Pumpkin
Carving pumpkins 2005
2006
Sleeping Beauty and the Scream guy
2007
Ghost Rider and a Fairy
2008
Pirates!!!!!

Yummy Breakfast

2009-09-30T11:14:00.001-07:00

Justin was so sweet and got up early the other day just so he could make breakfast for Me, sky and himself. He made us Banana and Jelly sandwiches. OK not the most appealing but it was the thought that counted. He said he would have used peanut butter but he couldn't reach it LOL.

Yummy......

Look how happy and proud he is. I love this guy :)

I did eat most of mine. I felt sick the rest of the day but he never knew and that's all that matters. Who knows maybe some day he will be a famous chef.

My little sis is ENGAGED!!!

2009-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

Me and the kids headed down to my Sister Niki's place for a birthday party. Niki and Kristen (Ben's sister) are only a few days apart so they decided to have a joint birthday party. Little did Niki know it wasn't just a birthday party but a Engagement party FOR HER and BEN!!! It was so much fun to be apart of it. I'm so happy and excited for Ben and Niki!!!

The cute couple before he asked
The cute couple after he asked :)
Her gorges ring (way to go Ben!)
"hay Mom guess what!!!!!!!" giving Mom the good news and learning she all ready knew too LOL. I love it when everyone is on something except the person its going to happen to hehehe.
And of course Justin, Skyla and Jesse where there too but they were to busy playing and enjoying each other.

Niki and Ben I'm so happy for you guys and cant wait to share in all your joy to come. I love you guys :)

Here is the video I got of the big day.

Rob the tropical fish

2009-09-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Because of Joy school and Justin being in school Skyla loves having homework. This year to get her ready for kindergarten Joy school has a separate course I do with her at home called Kindergarten readiness. Its alot of letter, color and shape recognition. Learning the sounds of letters and learning how to write them. Sky has just loved practicing her name.
The other day I gave her homework of drawing a pic. She could draw anything she wanted just draw. Well she took it to heart and did her best and this is what we got...........

Rob the tropical fish (she named him not me) I was really impressed by how much detail she put in to it, normally she doesn't do that. Then to top it off she wrote her name on the bottom all by HERSELF!!!!

Yep I'm a very proud mom right now :)

Joy school

2009-09-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sky started joy school 2 weeks ago and I'm so late posting about it. Anyways she has LOVED it and is so excited to have more friends with her this year.

First day of Joy school. I taught the 2ND week of joy school and let me tell you these kids are SO FUN!!! They all crack me up and get along really well, and are just all good kids. Its a little crazy with 6 kids this year but its alto of fun.

Star Wars anyone

2009-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Jack had a fun Star Wars themed birthday. I had a blast dressing the kids up. Justin was Darth Vader (he all ready had the costume from a passed Halloween) and Skyla I dressed up as who else Princess Leia. She even sat still so I could fix her hair. Witch by the way I loved and think i will do again just because. :)

The kids with their light sabers ready for battle.

?????

2009-09-14T10:18:00.001-07:00

This tomato sat on my counter for about 2 weeks. It didn't spoil and looked nice and red. Till I turned it over and saw this.......

Yep that's right get a good long look.........Yep the seeds in the tomato started to sprout THROUGH the tomato and the thing wasn't even rotten. Crazy but still pretty cool.

Fever, Fever GO AWAY!

2009-08-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Poor Justin. This kid always seems to get weird sicknesses that just come out of no were. Saturday all day he had a low fever (101.5) it has been really hot (high 80's low 90's) so that doesn't help.

Robin and the boy's came to swim with us in the afternoon and I let Justin go to help cool him off (we only swam about a hour). He has been eating and drinking fine and acting fine too so I didn't think much of it. Then at about 4pm out of no where his fever shoots up to 103. We gave him some Motrin to help bring it down but it never went under 101. Then before bed at 9pm it was back up to 103. We gave him some more meds and sent him to bed.

He slept all night, and when I got up this morn to get ready for church both kids where still asleep (so we stayed home just in case Sky was sick too). Poor Justin slept till 8:45 (not like him at all) and woke up with a fever of 104.2 and saying he was dizzy.

As of now we are just watching him. The Doc thinks he might just have a cold or be dehydrated but we need to keep a close eye on the fever. If it gets to 105 we need to run him to the ER and if he still has a fever tomorrow we need to get him in to the Doc first thing.

I know fevers are good it means your body is doing what its supposed to, but its so scary when it last so long and keeps getting higher. And so frustrating when there are NO other symptoms to give you a clue of what he could have.

New school year

2009-08-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Its official Justin is a 2nd grader!!! I cant believe how fast time fly's once your kids are in school. So this year Justin will have 2 teachers. His main teacher is on maternity leave till the end of November, so right now he has a sub. He loves his sub and has been able to meet his teacher and really likes her too (she came on the first day of school to introduce her self and will come again to class one day next week to get to know the kids).
I'm excited to see what challenges are awaiting Justin with school this year. He is really excited about math and his reading has gotin really good, but I know he isn't a fan of all the work and homework. Hopefully this teacher will make it fun and exciting for him.
He was very happy to find he has some friends from last year in his class again (yep it got worked out that his friend Sara is in his class again too :) ).
I'm excited to see what this year has in store for us. Skyla is also in her last year of joy school and will be at school with Justin next year. I can all ready feel the water works going on that thought.

Disneyland (lots of pics)

2009-08-21T09:25:00.001-07:00

We took off to Disneyland on the 15th and it was AWESOME!!! We stayed for 4 nights 5 days and hit the park all 5 days. Needless to say this weekend we have done nothing :).

The day we got there we had dinner in Downtown Disney at the ESPN zone. They have great food, TV's all over (so mick got to watch his Bills preseason game during dinner) and a VERY fun arcade up stairs.

After dinner we went to California Adventure to see the electrical parade.

Candy sure makes the wait time easier :)

Tinker Bell

Goofy driving the train

After the parade we went in to Disneyland to hit some rides.

Buzz lightyear is a family fave

On the 16th Mick took Justin for the morning and went on all the rides Skyla cant go on. I took Sky and we had a Princess morning.

First stop the Bippity Boppity Boutique to get Sky's Hair, makeup and nails done by her Fairy Godmother.

Here is her before shot (not pretty hehe)

Getting her hair done.

Nails done with Strawberry scented nail polish.

Eye makeup a must

Here is her after pic. Isn't she CUTE! I love having a girl :)

Checking out her new look.

Skyla and her Fairy Godmother Tasha

After all that what is a princess to do........Go and hang out with other princesses of course :)

Mulan

Snow White (sky was VERY excited for this one)

and Cinderella

Whats a princess with out a castle.

When we met up with Mick and Justin that afternoon we got right in line to see the Aladdin show. I got this great pic of Justin just relaxing and watching the crowds.

We got Justin a new pair of Mickey ears.

After the show we head to the hotel for a much need nap. After that we got some good pics in the Hollywood back lot.

Making a wish at Snow Whites wishing well

Had to try to pull out the sward "That thing is stuck good" (by justin)

On Alice in wonderland

Meeting some character's.

Frozone

Handy Manny

Mrs Incredible

Minnie Mouse (in her vacation cloths as Skyla would say)

Bear Mountain! Grizzly river run was a big hit this time. Skyla was tall enough for it this time so we got to go on it as a family. We all got so wet!

Monday was my birthday and it was so cool to spend it in Disneyland with My family. Mick was so sweet and got me Mickey earrings and a matching necklace and these really cute Pink sequence Mickey ears. Plus I had a button that said Happy Birthday on it. It was loads of fun :) thanks for making my day special sweetie.

Bumper cars in Bugs Life land

The Chew Chew Train

Mr Potato Head keeping us company wile we wait for Toy Story Mania.

Any ride you need 3D glasses for has got to be cool

Justin was tall enough for California Screaming this time. I was so excited to take him on his first BIG roller coaster. Best part is HE loved it!!

Frount row is the best way to ride.

waiting to go on again.

Love Californa adventuer park. O Check out Justin's blue teeth (darn candy)

After 3 1/2 days in the parks poor Mick was beat. We got a 5 day pass for the price of a 3 and I decited to use it. The day we where leaving we didnt have to check out till 11 so I got the kids up at 7am and we hit Toon town morning maddness and a few rides before check out (mick got to sleep in and did he need the sleep).

Wait for the show to start

Toon Town Morning maddness is a fun show and you get time with some chariters. The kids just love it.

We got to meet Mickey

Goofy

Chip and Dale

and Pluto

Then we hit some rides in toontown

Then we just explored and had fun.Can you find Justin in the pic?

After Toon Town we took the Monarail to Downtown Disney to do some last min shopping.

We found a cute face painting stand so I let the kids go for it. Little did I know the black pain would stain Justin's face for about 3 days hehehe.

We love you Disneyland.

My New Boyfriend

2009-07-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at home watching TV when I hear a little knock on my door. I get up and open the door to only be swept off my feet by a VERY Handsome little man......... McKay has always been my little boyfriend. I just love this little guy and his cute sweet face.

How can you not be in love with this little guy. He even brought me flowers!!!

Thanks Melissa this totally made my day. I Love you Tay :)

BIG up date with lots of Pics and a video

2009-07-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

This past week has been a BLAST! Not only did we have tons to do but the best part is I got to do it all with my Mom :) Mom came down and stayed with us for a week. It was so nice having her here, and the kids loved having their Nana sleep in their room.
Pics are not in order but that's ok....So we hit the Fair this weekend, Skyla was dancing at it and we had so much fun. Right by the stage was a photo both where they take those old western pics. Lets just say we had some fun with that.
Me, Mom and my Sister Nikki (we let Mom pic the outfits)
Justin, Skyla and my nephew Jessie (how cute are they!!!)

Here is Skyla waiting to go on stage in her cute Tap costume.

Here are all the girls with Dina (sky's dance teacher) waiting to do their jazz dance.

Dina picks out really cute costumes for the girls. This one is for the song "get on your feet"

Also this week was Sky's Birthday! When you ask her what the best part of her birthday was she says it was Nate being back home. Nate and Sky are too funny they call each other their Boyfriend and Girlfriend, and if you ask them why they both say "its because we love each other" hahaha where do kids learn this. Anyways our good friends the Becks have been visiting family in Utah for the passed month. Sky was having Nate withdrawals but was so excited to find out he was going to be back in time for her party.

Happy Birthday Skyla :)

After Justin's cool Pirate cake I had to get Sky a cute cake too, and I was not disappointed (ether was sky she loved it).

Another day we took off and hit San Francisco. Mom has not been there in a very long time and was craving some SF Sourdough bread (they don't have sourdough in the east coast)

We had a fun time at pier 39 checking out the sea lions

Shopping down the pier

and eating at our fave restaurant "Wipeout"

We had such a fun week, Thanks for hanging out with us Mom we miss you all ready.

Here is a video of Skyla doing her Tap dance "Penny a Kiss" its pretty cute.

Imagination

2009-06-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

I had my Enrichment meeting with my committee last week, and I took Skyla with me. I brought her a coloring book and her box of crayons and markers to keep her busy. She was so well behaved and very cute, She was sitting behind us talking to herself very low. Once in a wile we could pick out what she was saying, she was playing house with her crayons and having them talk to each other. It was really cute! When I turned around to see what she was doing this is what I saw..... Needless to say I started laughing like crazy witch then started a giggle fit between My committee and Skyla. I love watching my kids imagination's work, and who knew crocks could also be used as pencil holders.

Chabot Space and Science center.

2009-06-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the Space and science museum this weekend. We have never been, and have heard some good things about it. The kids had fun playing with everything, Mick and I had fun learning more about space and space travel, best of all we where inside on a 90+ degree weather day.
I was how ever a little bummed at how much it cost to get in, that and the planetarium was broken. We got 2 movie passes since the planetarium was broke, but the screen is so big and you sit so close, and the video is so blurry that by the end of the 45 min movie Mick and I had head acks and just wanted to leave. We let the kids go play a bit more, took them to look at the telescopes then headed home.
All in all it was a fun time and I wouldn't mind going again in the evening time so we could look through the BIG telescope, and see the planetarium show.

Moon walker.

Pretending to be on the moon

Look no gravity on the Space Station

See I was there too :)

Swim class

2009-06-29T10:32:00.001-07:00

We signed the kids up for a 2 weeks swim class and it was so worth it. Justin we had do it so he could learn form and how to be a more confident swimmer. Skyla we had do it because she was having some water phobia issues. Anyone who has gone swimming with us knows Sky will not get in the water. She likes to hold on to the sides and play on the stairs as long as no one is anywhere near her. She wouldn't let me teach her how to float or anything. So we tried swim class. The first day she cried as we left and was being really shy when we got there, but her teacher won her over and Sky got in the pool. Luckily the water is heated and she can stand in it.Putting her face in the water for the first time.

Learning how to float and kick on her back.

Keep those legs straight.

Everyday they got to go on a duck and kick on over to the deep end to jump off the side of the pool. Sky's in the middle.

She saw the other kids do it and got a tad scared cause they went under the water.

After a little pep talk from her teacher she did it!!! Now she LOVES the water and goes under every chance she gets.

Here are some pics of Justin in his class.

Going over safety rules.

Floating.

Superman Swim.

Learning how to bring his arms over head.

Justin has always loved the water but now he can do more then just dog Patel, and class has boosted his confidence int he water like crazy.

Lots of swimming this summer for my 2 little fish.

Sarah J. had her boys take it too and Justin and Jonah got to be in the same class. Poor Graydon had to be given the tough love approach to swimming, but after the second day he was having a blast too. :)

Speaking of fish......

2009-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

I would like you all to meet Junior He/she (we don't know what sex yet) is a baby Convict Cichlids. When we got our 10 gallon tank we got a pair of Convicts along with a few other fish. We though they where a male and female (they have a red coloring on their sides) but we where not sure. Well after about 2 weeks they started killing some of our other fish in the tank. They where doing this because they are VERY protective parents, and low and behold we saw eggs in the tank. Well those eggs hatched and most of the babies got eatin by the other fish or sucked up in the filter. Mick then took out the Convects and what ever babies he could and put them in a smaller tank on the counter. The mom and all baby's died but Dad is still going strong. This was about a 1 1/2 months ago. A few weeks ago Justin told us he saw a baby in the tank. We thought he was kidding cause we never saw anything (the baby was hiding in this volcano air thing we have in the tank). Then finally one day we saw him!!!! For Father's Day Mick got a nice 36 gallon tank. So we moved all the fish over to that tank and put the Dad in the 10 gallon and left Junior in the little 1 gallon tank (yes that's right we have 3 tanks). So now Junior is swimming around like crazy, has learned what food is and is still sleeping in his volcano at night. To give you a idea of how small he is, look at a dime and imagine a fish laying on it with out touching the sides (yeah that's how tiny he is). He is growing though and in a few months will be big enough for the "Big" tank.

Its pretty cool to see a fish grow from Egg to fish. I have never seen it before, and just because of that Junior has a special place in my heart. I never thought I would be attached to a fish but he is definitely one I would be sad about if something happened.

On side note Dad is doing well we just got him a new wife and hope to have more babies soon. Sadly these baby's will be used as feeder fish for some of our other fish we have. The circle of life :)

Happy Fathers Day Mick!!

2009-06-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

In 2002 you became a Dad. That little boy is growing up fast and looks up to his daddy more more every day. Thank you for being such a wonderful example for our son of what a Man/Father/Husband should be. Because of you he will grow up with high morel standards, be sweet and loving and have a wonderful respect for women. In 2005 you then had your heart stolen by a tiny little princes who is and always will be Daddy's little girl. Thank you again for being a wonderful example of what a Man/Father/Husband should be. I know the man Skyla will marry some day will be compared to you and she will expect him to treat her the same way you treat me (spoiled). :)

I love how much you love football and your fish. I love how you go in to things full heatedly and with such a strong passion for them.

I love how you will do anything for your family. Even wait in line for hours just so the kids can have a pic taken with their favorite Disney charter.

I feel so lucky to be your wife and am so grateful for all the fun times you have given to me. Thank you for always being supportive of me and the kids, no matter what we want to do.

The thing I love most about you is your sense of humor. You ALWAYS make me and the kids laugh and I love that your not scared to be silly.

You give our family so much everyday! I hope you really know how much you are loved and appreciated. Happy Fathers day sweetie! We love you :)

Pics of the kids

2009-06-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

My good friend Melissa took pics of the kids for me yesterday. It was kind of a last min thing (thanks again Mel). WOW! is all I can say about these pics. They came out so nice and so darn cute its hard to just chose a few to have printed out. She is also making me a few fun ones of the pics so I can just print those out (like this black and white one of skyla). I'll post those as soon as she sends them. But for now enjoy this huge post of pics.

Whats going on with us......

2009-06-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well nothing new has really happened and we haven't gone anywhere exciting, but we have been having TONS of fun. SO here is a little up-date on us.

Justin is on his last 4 days of school (I should say 3 days cause he is just about done with today). I cant believe how fast this school year has gone by. He is also about to have his last baseball practice tonight then he only has 2 more games before the season is over.
He has grown and learned so much this year. He can read all on his own now and really enjoys it. He is going to do this summer reading program through the library. He has to read 2 book a week for 5 weeks, and then write a small book report about each book. They have prizes the kids get for reading and a big carnival for them in Aug before school starts again. We also have put him in swim lessons to help build his confidence in the water a little more. Summer time fun!

Skyla has just finished her first year of joy school and is all ready excited for it to start again (not till Sept so she has a wait). Her summer is shaping up to be pretty busy too. She is also taking swim lessons, and dance is going to start picking up now too. She loves her dance class and summer is the best time cause all the shows are coming up. She will be dancing at the fair in July (first show of the year). Her birthday is only a month away so we are starting to plan that as well.

Mick is working so hard poor guy. They had to lay off 2 people (thank goodness he wasn't one of them) and so now its a ton more work he has to do. He is so tired when he gets home. Over all he is good though, he has gotin a new fish tank and is just loving it. I like that he has a hobby that he really enjoys. O and cant forget Football is about to start so he is getting really excited for that.

Me I just peachy :) I'm running around crazy making sure everyone gets to where they need to go. Planing fun things for us to do so the kids don't get bored and getting really excited cause my Mom is flying out in July!! I have had so much fun this year with baseball with Justin cause I was the team mom and it was a blast. I'm still taking dance classes and am looking forward to dancing in the shows coming up. I also am getting ready for our "Super Saturday Enrichment" we have coming up. I have been keeping up on all the "New moon" buzz and cant wait for the movie in Nov. Yes Twilight is still a big fun thing for me and I'm just grateful Mick puts up with it. I have 2 wonderful kids who make life fun and a hubby who is so loving and supportive. Life is good :)

As a family we have been having some fun weekends. We took off to Santa Cruz not to long ago and had a blast. Then we hit the Alameda beach not to long ago. We upgraded our TV and me and Mick are having fun watching movies on a huge screen, and the kids like having the old TV in their room. We took the kids cloths shopping and found some really cute stuff for both of them. Mick and I will be married for 7 years this Aug and have been together for 10 year this Nov. Hopefully we can squeeze a trip in to Disneyland sometime this summer too.

Best buddies

2009-05-08T09:33:00.001-07:00

Skyla and Nate have become best buds. Not to mention the Beck boys are all such sweet hearts to begin with. McKay loves to give hugs too and its so cute!!!

its great to have good friends!

Yes she has messy hair and is still in her P.J's but it was only 8:30am when I took theses pics.

Good Food and Good Friends

2009-05-08T09:21:00.001-07:00

One Saturday after a T-ball game The Junsays and Becks agreed to come out with my family (-Mick who was having fun watching the draft) to the ice creamery. One of our fave places to eat.

Nate, Skyla and Graydon! These 3 are such good friends!

Jack, Jonah and Justin The group that started our wonderful friendships with the Junsays and Becks.

The whole group. Poor Joe had to deal with us girls and our girly talk hehehe.

I had to add this pic, cause this was a HUGE kids size Ice cream and she ate it all!

Sky on the phone

2009-04-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

I was talking with my Mom the other day on the phone, when Skyla asked if she could talk to her too. Sky LOVES to talk to my Mom. So I took a video of Sky talking with her. Its so funny she is all over the place when she talks, and still doesn't get that my mom cant see things she is showing her hehehe.

Here you go Mom this is what was going on on my end of your phone conversation.

Friends

2009-04-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday we got to have "The Boys" with us for a few hours. Justin and Skyla LOVE their friends Jack, Nate and Mckay. I love all my friends kids but these boys have a special place in my heart.
Jack is the funniest kid and so grow up in such a little body. He is smart and has the best spirit about him you cant help but feel it when he is near.
Nate is the love bug he is always willing to give me hugs and tell me how much he enjoys my house, not to mention this kid has me in stitches all the time.
Mckay is my cutie pie. This little guy has the sweetest personalty and the sweetest smile. It melts my heart every time I see it. He is also a little stinker and loves to tease and play jokes, best part he's only 1 and a half and totally gets what he is doing.

So we laid out some blankets and pillows and got the kids settled in to watch a movie together. Jack was making a scary face at me but the TV caught his eye.

All together watching the move...........

Mckay was sitting at Justin's feet and started to tickle them.

Then when he wasn't getting a big enough reaction he got right in his face, and then kept blocking Justin's view of the TV. I love it hehehe.

Nate and Justin where having fun putting their hands up every time I tried to take a pic. This was the best I got.

It was a fun night!

Jelly beans yummy

2009-04-09T13:26:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to the Jelly Belly factory last weekend. It was fun the kids loved seeing how the candy was made. The Easter bunny was there as well so we stopped in to take a pic..........

Yeah she wasn't the most friendly of Bunny's and both the kids were not impressed, if you cant tell hehehe. I love the look on Justin's face.

They loved the tour and really loved the hats you have to wear. Not to mention the free jelly beans.

It was a fun day all in all, cant ask for anything more.

Go Bills

2009-04-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

This pic is Just for you Mom and Mike!! Enjoy :)

Happy Birthday JUSTIN!!!

2009-04-06T08:17:00.001-07:00

Justin wanted a Pirate party this year and we had so much fun with it. We asked all his friends who could to come dressed up and just about everyone did. Swords included witch got taken away shortly there after. Yeah 16 kids armed in one small room not a good idea hehehe.

I was even able to get him a cool pirate cake. That was one yummy ship!

All of Justin friends.

Happy Birthday Justin!!

Baseball is here again!

2009-04-06T08:05:00.000-07:00

I love Baseball and I love watching Justin play! This year he is on the Blue Jays and has 3 of his good friends with him on his team. The season started with our big parade then our team had one of the first games of the season right after that (lets just say the boys where pretty good for how tired they all where).

Justin and his new friend Cameron aren't they cute!

Justin loves to play and he is really good this year. He loves to practice with Mick and cant wait for his games. He also has a grate coach this year and of course the Team mom is just amazing. She is the best team mom ever!! I don't know how the team would survive with out her! OK I'm just kidding but I do think I'm a pretty cool team Mom :) Yep that's right I'm team mom this year and I love it. Our Team mom we had moved before the season started so I stepped up to do it. It so much fun!

Walk-a-thon

2009-04-06T07:43:00.000-07:00

The first grade classes have been hurting this year for supplies and money for field trips. So the teachers came up with a way to earn money and Justin had so much fun with it.

All 4 first grade classes had a Walk-a-thon. Each child collected donations or got sponsors who agreed to pay them so much money per lap. They did this on the black top at school witch is a pretty good size and they only had 30min.

Here is Justin on one of his many laps. Allot of people walked. The principle and office staff was out there. Some of the kindergarten teachers where out there, and all of the first grade teachers walked as well. Even some parents walked too.

I went to the school to help out marking the kids talley's, and making sure they all took water breaks. I had Skyla with me and she was itching to go play. On one lap Justin fell right as he got back to us, he skinned his knee a bit and had to sit out for a few minutes. His teacher and my friend Lisa where so nice that they asked the principle if Sky could walk some laps for Justin since he was now hurt and couldn't walk.

Lisa took Skyla with her and Skyla walked 3 whole laps!

After that Justin was fine and got back in to his walk-a-thon with more energy then ever. After it was all done and said Justin had raised $65 and completed 26 laps (the most out of his whole class). He also earned enough money to have a prize. He gets to have lunch with the principle (he is very excited about this).

My new Baby

2009-03-16T14:28:00.001-07:00

On Saturday Mick, Justin, Skyla and I all went out to go look for a new car. The kids were great but Mick and I were getting kinda bumbed cause we really wanted a SUV but our price range was more for a car. So we looked at some cars and where just about sold on a Ford but it hard more miles on it then we wanted and they were asking just a bit over what we wanted to pay.
Then out of no where the sales man who was helping us came out and said he had a SUV for us in our price range and wanted us to test drive it. Well Mick took it for a drive wile I took the kids potty. When he got back he was so excited about the car and we got it for the price we wanted!!

Say Hello to my new baby....... I LOVE IT!!! and having 2 cars is so great, I cant believe how long we went with only 1.
So here is the info.
2004 Nissan Xterra XE/SE
38,000 miles
4 wheel drive
Power everything
SUPER Clean inside and out
2 year bumper to bumper warranty
and we got it for $13,300 OUT THE DOOR!!!
Kelly blue book on it is $17,000, I think we did really good :)

Our new pets

2009-03-12T11:53:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I was really sick so we stayed home from church. Mick being the sweet hubby he is decided he was going to take the kids to the park to play. That way I would get some uninterrupted sleep and hopefully feel better. Well the park just wasn't enough (for Mick) so they took a trip to the pet store, and Here is what they come home with.......

Yep that's right 2 Hermit Crabs. The pet store has a huge section of crabs and Justin has always wanted one. So Mick told Justin he could get one and he picked out the biggest one they had.

Skyla wanted a cat, but Mick had to tell her no on that one. So he showed her the cute painted shell crabs and of course she pick the pinkest girlie-est one she could find.

Their low key low maintenance pets so its not so bad. The kids LOVE them (well Justin does, Sky could really care less) and they are pretty cool to watch.

Two very happy kids what more can you ask for :)

Bowling

2009-03-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

We got to go bowling with our good friends the Becks last Saturday. It was so much fun, kinda crazy with 5 kids and 4 adults but SO MUCH fun.

This pic is for you Melissa :) Isn't McKay the cutest thing, I have such a soft spot for this kid and his smile it gets me every time. Mick got the best score out of all of us.

Justin had a crazy throw but hay it worked he got a strike that night.

Sky had fun too but I think she was more excited about using a pink ball.

Getting a pic of all the kids wasn't easy.......as you can see at least Jack sat still.

This was pretty much all Nate and Sky wanted to do all night.

Even McKay wanted to get in on the fun.

Ryan was there too I just didn't get a pick of him sorry Ryan :)
It was such a fun night I cant wait to go again.

Blue and Gold

2009-03-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

Justin had his Blue and Gold dinner for scouts a few weeks back. He was so excited for it. Their den got to preform a skit and 2 knock knock jokes for all the parents.

Justin and his good friend A.J. The boys being presented with their badges (one was "duty to god" for going to church on scout Sunday....Justin was the only one who got that, and the other was for baking a cake all by himself.)

Each boy had to make a cake and decorate all by them selves, then they gave out awards for each cake. Justin won for craziest cake.

He is so excited cause he was also give his Tiger badge! he cant wait for graduation in a few month when he becomes a official Wolf.