Ms.Leah Turns 4

My Red Heels, man they grow up fast....

Today we celebrated Leah's 4Th birthday. She has entered out of toddler, and into young lady in a flash of an eye. Honestly, with the birth of Leah I had such a feeling of completeness. And that content feeling keeps growing as she gets older.

We woke to her telling us it is her birthday and that she is 4 now. Dad made her Minnie Mouse pancakes. As he is doing that, Bryce makes her a homemade card that says, "Happy Birthday Leah....You are nice and you are smart." Then I see him put something in it. I ask what it is and he shows me 5 bucks. I ask where he got it. He tells me he took it out of his piggy bank to give to her since her didn't buy her anything. It was so sweet, I almost cried. He has such a big heart!! That seemed to be her favorite present of the day because she held it and told everyone her brother gave it to her.

Bobby took the day off, which was so nice. Our household just runs so much smoother when all participants are home. After her dance class, we celebrated with her buddies with cupcakes. Then we hit up the water park in Palmdale. This facility is really nice and clean and uncrowded. We had a blast.

Now we are getting ready to BBQ and do a campfire to roast some smores. It was a birthday fit for our little princess. In two days we get to celebrate Bryce's 7Th birthday. Then next week we will have a small dessert/candy themed party for their buddies. Trying to keep it smaller this year ;) Just have to rent a champagne fountain for chocolate milk, yeah... I am so not going over board with this one!!

Loving August!!

Haha, I just told her to go upstairs and change out of her bathing suit. This is what she came down wearing....

Her birthday suit and just a crown, kinda how she came into the world...she really is a birthday princess!

Are you a Grandma?

I was bathing the kids the other day, in a hurry, because I finally made myself an eye appointment. Why is it that no matter how much time you give yourself to leave the house, you are always rushing?! Just me?...maybe....

The kids were asking why we were in such a rush. I say I have to go to the doctor's to get glasses. Leah looked at me all weird asked, "Why do you need glasses, are you a grandma?"

Kids are so funny and how they make connections, since both of their grandma's have glasses.

Turns out I do need glasses to see far distances. This is annoying. I asked if I have to wear them all the time and the doctor said, "No, only when you want to see." Guess I'll go pick out my grandma glasses soon....

It's Your Love

I can't believe it has been ten years.....

I am so thrilled we got to go to Cabo for our anniversary. We had been planning on going back since we both visited there briefly. There is such a relaxing vibe. We stayed at a beautiful resort, slept in everyday, went swimming on the beach and in the pool, drank, drank, drank and talked about the next ten years.

We visited Wal-mart and Sam's club while there to stock our mini kitchen in our room. The shopping in Mexico is way different than in the states. There is only one choice to choose from. We are so spoiled here, with our choices and merchandising and marketing! We decided to find a bottle of wine from the year we were married, which turned out to be a pretty hard task. So we decided to place make a bet, as to who could find it first. Of course...I lost!

On the actual day, July 22ND, we took a water taxi to Lover's Beach, one of the prettiest beaches I have even been on. Then we walked through the marina. For dinner we made reservations to eat beach side at our hotel. The dinner was amazing!! To throw it back to our wedding day I decided to wear the top to my wedding dress. It was pretty tight, but def. took me back to that day!

The resort offered photo sessions for guests on the beach. It was so so enticing, I couldn't resist!! Here are a few of our shots:

All in all it was such a great experience. We haven't spent a week alone since we got married. I'm glad we still feel the same alone!

I didn't lose all the weight I wanted but gave it a good try! I still have 15/20 pounds to lose but I'm glad I had this trip to motivate me! I would point out a pretty girl and Bobby would say, "Well, I doubt she has had two kids!" Guys, I'm not sure this is the compliments, us "moms", are going for. I want to look like I haven't had two kids!! That's the point. I guess I have 10 more years to drop the rest, then it's tattoo time =) You have to have something to reach for!

Heart of Gold

Tonight was one of those nights, I couldn't help but get all emotional about Bryce. I am so proud and honestly a little in awe of his grasp and understanding of life. I know as parents, we all have these moments when you are just so proud of your kid, for getting "it," whatever that "it" is.

I decided to paint Leah's closet today. Leave me in my house long enough, with enough free time and the paint will come out. While I was preoccupied with this, my kids did whatever they pleased downstairs. Needless to say, I came down to several cookie packages open and just as many juices and fruit snacks. They basically had a feast. I was reprimanding them and that was that.

Leah picks out her story for tonight and gets Bernstein's Bears...Too Much Junk Food. I chuckled a little because she always picks this book after we discuss eating healthy. We are reading through this great book ,with many simple lessons about eating healthy. We get to the part where they show how the body works with cool illustrations of the nervous system and skeleton system, and whatever other systems we have. Bryce really likes this part and always asks a ton of questions about how our bodies work.

He asks, "Why do they even make junk food if it's bad for you?"

I tell him we always have a choice and teach him about moderation.

He says, "It tastes so good though!"

I tell him , I know and that I have a hard time picking the healthy thing every time because the bad food is addicting.

Then he starts asking about the blood in our bodies, how we make enough when we loose some, how the food goes through our body, why we have butts and privates and how we live if we don't have lungs.

I tell him we can't live without lungs.

He asks, "Then why do they make cigarettes, if they kill people and ruin their lungs?"

I tell them they didn't know when they made them, that they were so bad for us.

Logically he asks, "But now they know, so why do they still make them?"

I tell him people are addicted and pay a lot of money and the people that make cigarettes like money.

Here's the part where I am just amazed at how he interprets things.

He says:

"Well you know Mom, money isn't everything. And no amount of money is OK to kill people. These people that make cigarettes should have to face a judge and go to jail for killing people. And you know, sometimes, they even have to pay a fine. Like $1,000, probably, in one month, and that's a lot. So then they should have to loose the money they made anyway. Why isn't it like that Mom?"

He is very worked up about this whole situation and even has tears in his eyes. He is so passionate, I am so proud! I tell him I wish it was like that too....

This kid has a heart of gold and it is pumping pure innocence. Sometimes kids just have a way of seeing things the way they should be, more so then the grown-ups =)

Wrong Side of the Bed

The other night Bryce was complaining of a tummy ache right before bed. He went to the bathroom and said he felt better, but I knew, as most moms know, throw-up was going to be in the near future. So, we all go to bed and sure enough at 1:00am our little Bryceman comes crawling in our bed. We fall asleep and about 1 minute later he sits straight up out of our bed.

"Mom! I have to throw-up!"

I jump out of bed in time to lift him up out of our bed. In the process of the lift he throws up all over the carpet. I rush him into the bathroom. He throws up on the tile. Finally, he makes it to the toilet for the last bout. I HATE throw up more than anything. Once he is done, he crawls back into our bed and falls fast asleep. This leaves Bobby and I assessing the situation.

Perhaps the worst thing, is looking at it, smelling it and wondering where the hell you should even begin to clean this up.

We get the stuff on the tile with a large towel and a ton of antibacterial wipes. I spray the room with Lysol to kill whatever may be flying around and mask the smell. Then I ask Bobby to go and get the steam cleaner to clean the carpet. He does this as I finish up the tile.

When he arrives at the top of the stairs with the cleaner he says that the steam cleaner leaked and smells like crap. Rewind to last week.... OOH CRAP!! I forgot I left the water in the cleaner from a week ago when I steam cleaned the carpet. It smells like hell!

Now I have to dump this disgusting smelly water out and clean the steam cleaner before I can clean the puke! I dump the old stuff in the steaming hot shower and dump Pine sol all over the cleaner and shower.

Once the steam cleaner is back in business, I start with the throw up and get that cleaned. Then I have to steam clean every stair because the steam cleaner leaked all over the stairs and left a trail from the garage to our room. I get all this cleaned up within the hour and lay in bed to try and sleep.

The whole night I sleep horrible because every time Bryce would move I would sit up prepared with the bucket to catch whatever came out so I wouldn't have to clean the floor again. Glad to report he was fine the rest of the night.

We wake up exhausted but ready to face the day. Bobby gets in the shower. It starts clogging up. Rewind to last night. OOPS! By dumping the carpet cleaning in the shower with all the carpet fuzz, I completely clogged the drain. So poor Bobby has to undo the drain and pull out whatever it was. Basically, a huge mess of God knows what! He is dry heaving and the smell is awful. He tells me being a plumber may be the only job that would be too much for him.

We get that straightened out and come downstairs. Nothing else can go too wrong, right? WRONG! Our dog decided to pee on my freshly cleaned carpets. I am so pissed at him until I open the garage door to realize Bryce blocked his dog door with his bike.

So, no one is at fault, but everyone is in a bad mood and walking around in a bit of a frustrated huff. Bryce tells me right before he threw up he was having a horrible dream that something was stuck in his throat. Poor guy! Can you imagine what an awful dream and feeling that was?! This makes me feel worse for him than us for the morning we had. We can look back and laugh about it now, but talk about starting the morning on the wrong side of the bed.

Memorial Day

As we get to enjoy a three day weekend I wanted to be sure to post something saying, "THANK YOU!" to our soldiers that give so much to protect our way of life.

I really wanted to post a, "Thank you" after Mother's Day. I was watching Ellen DeGeneres for her special on mothers. Her audience included expecting wives of soldiers. Their gift on Mother's Day was a message form their husband serving across seas. I was brought to tears and gratitude! Missing the birth of their children!! What a sacrifice. The rest of us take this for granted. I was surely brought to my senses. When Bobby works long hours at the gym it is nothing I shouldn't be able to handle compared to these strong Army wives.

Bryce is still throwing the, "I want to stay home from school" bits, almost daily. I was excited to tell him about his extra day off this weekend. I told him ,"Guess what?!! You have three days off of school, so cool!"

He looked at me almost disgusted in my enthusiasm and lectured, "Mom! Do you even know why we have an extra day off?"

Knowing why, but wanting to hear his response I said, "No, why?"

He tells me, "It is to honor our soldiers who have fought for our country. That's why!!"

Very impressed by his patriotism and lack of excitement about missing school I asked him how he knows. He goes on to tell me that his class wrote messages to the soldiers thanking them. He said that the librarian's son is in Iraq and that they were sending them to him. What a sweet idea and great way to teach the kids about the importance of our military.

I was quite proud of Bryce and his understanding of why we get to swim and BBQ for an extra day this weekend!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How I Know Men have Selective Hearing

By my nature, I am a noise sensitive person. I like to mute commercials because the noise annoys me. I always try to play the silent game with my kids after hearing "Mom" for the hundredth time. Mellow music is my favorite. I can hear most noises in the background, which can get irritating. But not Bobby....

He can be watching TV and the kids will be asking him a question....doesn't hear a thing. Acts like no one is even talking to him. Doesn't break line of vision with the television at all. I ask, "Can you hear them talking to you?" He says, "No, what do they need?" Well, they needed it from you and I really was enjoying that.... but I guess I will just have to handle it. I think this is why being a Dad must be better. Selective hearing.

But the real reason I know men have selective hearing is because of ESPN. I HATE this network, and not because I don't like sports or because of the fact Bobby can tune us out whenever it is on. No, I HATE this network because of the completely unnecessary background music they play while reporting sports news. ''Dodo-dun, dodo dun!" And they keep playing it throughout the entire program. I don't know who they paid to make this music for them to play in the background, but I can guarantee it was a man. Never noticed it before? Consider yourself lucky to have selective hearing. Next time you are watching, listen for it, and then think about me, and how irritating this Network is to listen to non-stop during baseball highlight season!