Our Palm Springs Trip

On the last day of school, I loaded up the car and then picked up the kids for a four day trip to Palm Springs. My friend Amber and I brought our families to share a 2 bedroom condo and vacation together as we did last year. For three adults, and eight kids....it went pretty smooth. I don't think the temperature got over 105 F. Which for the desert is pretty good. Let's say we were in the water most of the time and at the peak of the heat we went to our condo to hang out and lay low. All my kiddos are like little fish that don't want to get out of the water. Emma surprised me with her confidence and independence in the water and actually was the hardest to get out. We had a great time swimming and going down the water slide again and again, the kids played in the well-chilled activity room which has arcade games, crafts, free movie with popcorn. We were back in time to celebrate and have a bbq for Fathers Day with some of our family.

jUnIoR HirE

My oldest is now officially a Jr. Higher. She's ready but I don't know if mama is! I can remember like yesterday staring at her delicate little tiny fingers and watching her eyelids flutter as I held her fast asleep. Now she's as tall as me (not hard to do when you're only 5'4) but none the less she is growing up faster than I'd like. I do have to say that although the lovely ' hormones' have made themselves a home in her rather early, she can be quite a caring, helpful, mature, beautiful girl that I love and enjoy (most of the time) being around. I'm very proud of her and honoured to call her my own. She told me now that she's in Jr. High she wants me to hire her to babysit and do things around the house to earn some money.
They had quite the elaborate party for the kids. People put a ton of time, money and generosity into making it a very special day for all 60 graduating kids. It was a pirate themed party which took up the whole park with a bunch of different stations with fun activities for the kids, airbrush tatooing, an amazing treasure chest cake one of the very talented moms made, the macharaina, and tons of pirate flags and decos all around. I personally got there at 6am to help set up and stayed until 215 to help out. Very exhausting, but super-fun day! The kids had a blast which was most important!
The day before this was the kids combo class party which was a luau and it was fun helping out with that one too. I so enjoy watching the kids have a great time and getting to meet their friends they spend most of their time with. The last day of school which was June 14th I picked them up at noon and we headed out for a weekend trip to Palm Desert. That deserves its own blog so more on that later..........

Happy Fathers Day Larry!

I just wanted to write though words definately are not enough to express overall what a great person, husband, and especially father that Larry is among many other roles/titles that he is. He is such a hard working, loyal, devoted, passionate man and it shows. He's such a hard worker who carefully balances work and play. He just LOVES spending time with his kids and they him! Whether it's playing catch, basketball, soccer, wrestling, tickling and cuddling, kissing and hugging, playing garage band with the kids Larry sure knows how to put a smile on the kids faces. He is such a gift from God to all who know him and we're truly blessed to have him in our lives.

Cheers!

Our good friends the Rethmeiers took us to a wine tasting party at the House of Blues in LA on Wednesday night. We were also joined with two of our other great friends Bobby and Jen. We drove down early and went to one of Lar's favourite guitar shops by the Santa Monica Pier. I've heard lots about it and finally got to see for myself what this place was like. It was smaller than I thought but crammed with quite a wide variety of guitars, amps, etc. Some were really cool looking and Larry and Bobby tried some out and cranked up the volume!
We then went to the House of Blues for dinner. We had some delicious hors deurves and started in on the wine tasting. There were two wine makers who paired a glass of wine for each course making a total of twelve different glasses. They seemed to progressively get better and better, but then again that could've been the alcohol's judgement. No I seriously believe they did. We met some 'interesting' people and some really normal people. Cheers to great company, good food, and always great laughs with Steve around. He makes my side hurt, in a good way from all the laughing.

Memorial day weekend

I'm backtracking a little bit, but we had such a fun Memorial Day weekend.......internet was down.....and I wanted to tell you about it. It wasn't great for Larry though, poor guy was sick in bed all day! It started out with on Saturday which was a really great day. We got to spend the day at Myke and Dara's and see their new appartment which is within walking distance to the Spectrum. This was the day poor Lar was sick in bed : (. (that's a 'period' not a mole) Myke and Dara bbq'd up some yummy hotdogs and burgers and we enjoyed a swim in one of their rather large pools. It felt as though we were at a resort. They even have a Starbucks on the corner. After a fun, refreshing swim and of course dip in the jacuzzi (yes even in Cali we use them and yes, even in 70 something weather) Myke was his usual fun self with the kids who adore him. Very sweet! After drying off and getting changed we then walked over to the Spectrum. I think it would've taken us longer to park then it did to walk there. Plus it was a nice scenic walk which I love! We got there, and watched Shrek 3 which we enjoyed. Emmabear said "Mommy, it was too long!" But I know that's mostly because she was wiped from a long day of swimming and fun......but thought it was cute of her. I think most everything she says is cute really.
The next day everyone slept in (Hallelujah!) and we skipped on church that day. Larry pulled himself out of bed to go though so he could lead worship. When he got home we loaded up the car with 3 extra kids and went to the church picnic. The kids were all excited to go because they had bounce houses, ice cream, and some game booths with prizes. I think the pouch on the back of my lawn chair still has those 'cheapo' prizes they won. We were all glad we went, and it was an incredibly gorgeous day which made all the effort worth it for sure!
Okay, so now Monday, Memorial day.....it was great staying in my pj's and taking it easy. Not waking the kids up before they're ready, or rushing anyone off to school, or packing lunches etc. We took our time and had yet another BBQ at Ed and Donna's. As always great food, good music and fun times!

Happy Birthday Ashmatash!

Today is the birthday of someone VERY special that I know. She is my sister, the baby of the fam, now in her twenties! Personally I enjoyed my twenties and find thirties even better (forties should be rockin' then eh). Anyways, I love her more than words can say, she is a gift from God! She's incredibly smart, funny, talented.....can do anything she puts her mind to, not to mention she's absolutely beautiful! I have to say, my littlest one reminds me very much of my sister which is fun to see. She cracks me up just like Ashley would! It kinda helps the 'sting' of us being 3000 miles apart not 'sting' quite as much.
Anyways, I'm SO grateful that Ashley was made, and even more that she's part of 'our' family! I look forward over the years to hanging out with her as much as possible and getting to do fun girly things that sisters do. I am honoured to know her and even more so to have her as my sister and friend. If you're reading this my lil' Ashmatash...have the most wonderful birthday possible filled with love, joy and all the things you love most! You are a rich treasure in my life whom I love dearly!!! xoxoxo

Happy Birthday Michael Michael

Happy Birthday Myke! I sure hope it's a great one!!!
We'll work on 'NOT' eating the paper plates by the time your next birthday rolls around. Maybe we'll do 'transformer' plates for you next year......or should we save that for your 30th? I dunno. ; )

I love you more than words can say. You are not only the sweetest, kindest brother ever, but a great friend that I enjoy hanging out with (Dairy Queen) and am thankful to and for. I'd pick you as a friend even if we weren't related. You are a wonderful Uncle that the kids absolutely adore, a smart, funny, though sometimes odd (but I'm glad you're free to be you) sensitive (just a little bit eh) considerate, compassionate, did I not mention very handsome, talented brother. If it's not coming across......I really love you!
Love Cher

Yummy Weekend

This weekend was sure a fun one! It started with a bbq at Donna and Ed's house with some friends and neighbours. Good food, music and fun times were had by all! Saturday 'I' actually got to sleep in which is the first time in a few years til' 930am! Usually I can't sleep past 630am even when I try to. Saturday morning I did my sister n' laws hair for a wedding she was attending. She always looks pretty so the hairstyle couldn't have gone wrong really, it was funky......I would've wore it myself, it's just a little hard to do an updo on yourself, but I'll keep practicing.
We went to Christians last baseball game of the season. Emma decided that morning she was a model and decided to dress as so for the occasion with her pink feather boa. So cute! Then Larry took Chrish to the end of season pool party at the coach's house. Chrish was SO excited that he jumped into the pool while still wearing his t-shirt. He brought home this really cool bobble head trophy and displayed it proudly on his 'award' shelf. He's a talented, athletic kid that one!
Sunday was church as usual, lunch afterwards as usual which is always a fun treat! (anytime I don't have to cook is a treat!) Emma, Hannah and I went for a quick shopping trip and then I took Emma to a birthday party a little kid gym. It was fun watching her have such a great time. My lil' gymnist! After dropping Emma off after the party, Hannah and I got to go on our long awaited date. Nothing too fancy, but we've been talking for a couple months now about going to Ruby's (50's diner) for an 'ever so yummy brownie fudge sundae' which was incredibly delicious! After the tasty food, Hannah wanted to go to Target to buy herself a stuffed animal (surprise, surprise) which was a donkey/dragon called "Dronkey" from the new movie 'Shrek 3" she was happy with her new purchase. We went home to cuddle and paint nails to finish our special date. The cuddling while watching " A Night at the Museum" happened, the nail painting didn't happen until this morning before school. Black with pink polka-dots is what she wanted and is what she got! It really was fun spending one on one time with Hannah, she is such a special giggly girl whom I love dearly! She is heaven-sent and I am honoured to spend anytime I can with her.

So today......

So, today was a Mother's Day picnic at Emma's school. The kids sang a few cute 'mommy' songs, then we went outside for a sweet little picnic that the kids helped prepare. They made peanut butter sandwiches, had some yummy crunchy grapes and two 'famous amos' chocolate chip cookies for each of us. Then they surprised us with a fake, sparkly potted plant, and a homemade photo pin made interestingly enough out of a styrophome cup curled down into a little flower. Very sweet! My favourite part was probably watching Emma, giggle and play with her friends on the playground and 'monkeybars' that she's always telling me about.
The rest of the day consisted of laundry, dishes, cuddling and tickling Christian (but then we had to get serious and do homework.) The kids weren't home but 5 minutes and you couldn't even tell that I washed the floors this morning (I have to laugh about it though) Emma made her fort yet again today taking up the whole livingroom, then fell asleep in it. (so precious) While I was doing dishes and making dinner, I was really enjoying watching Caley just be a kid and ride her bike. Just back and forth on the sidewalk, not a care in the world. Do you remember that? Being a kid, just doing whatever YOU wanted to do, not stressing or having grown-up concerns, just thinking about what you would do next. I remember a bunch of times laying down in a field looking up at the sky and puffy clouds daydreaming, or singing, talking to God.(those were the days) Anyways, Chrish had his second to last baseball game for the season, then we ate din din and went to bible study. So, a pretty regular day. Now I'm tired and am going to go to bed at a descent time and maybe, hopefully be a bit more productive tomorrow. We'll see what memories we can make tomorrow ; )

xoxo..Happy Mother's Day!..xoxo

Happy Mothers Day! Today is a day that I am even more than ever filled with grattitude to my mom for giving me life, love and many special memories. I am now in the midst of finding out myself what it means and takes to be a mom, and because of her I am striving to be the best mom I can be. My mom did it all on her own too! Still don't know how she did that! My mom is a loving, strong, perservering, hard-working, smart, caring, affectionate godly woman whom I think God personally picked out of His treasure chest to give to our family. Life has not been easy for my mom (it would be rather boring and we'd be unappreciative if it came too easy), but she's quite a survivor and has a great heart! As long as I can remember I have always thought of my mom as a friend.....as well as a mother, believe me! To me she reallly exemplifies God's heart. She's always been so accepting, loves unconditionally, just as I am in all my faults and weaknesses, and has always been so forgiving. I will forever be grateful to her and for her. Mom, you are the best and I love you!

I just have to add how grateful I am for my family. Today was a day spent with the hubby and kiddos. Lots of home made cards and pictures, even a special necklace (yes with a heart) from the kids, and Larry spoiled me with a wonderful spa gift card. At church this morning they had flowers for all the moms which was sweet, and when we picked up the kids from their classes they had flowers for us too! Very thoughtful! I am honoured to be their mom and it is indefinable how precious they are to me! I love you sweethearts!

Laguna Beach Tide pools

On Wednesday Emma and I got to go on a pre-school field trip with her school. We took a long, bumpy busride down to the Laguna Beach tide pools. Emma was giddy she was so excited about riding on the bus with her friends. The weather was absolutely beautiful and just perfect. We took a rather long walk (for lil' ones) along the coast to get from the buses to the tidepools, broke up into groups and had our own lifeguards to show us around. I was amazed at how fast time flew and with that many young ones you have to keep a pretty tight schedule. While nervously and carefully hiking all around the tide pools (quite slippery and we didn't want to disturb the sea life) we found two (one was huge) starfish. We also saw a ton of sea anenomies I believe they are called, of course many baby crabs. Then we walked away from the rocks and over to the beach and had about 5 minutes to let the kids dip their feet in the water. We had to hike back up to the grass area and had a fun picnic lunch and after a potty break had to head back on the bus and head for home. I think we spent an equal amount of time on the bus to and from as we did at the actual beach. The kids were much quieter and more tired on the way home but everyone seemed to have a really great time! I know Emma and I sure did!