Standing Guard

This is a warning to all of you stupid ground squirrels who feel the need to eat my watermelon plants, basil, strawberries, beans, pansies, etc etc.... My garden is not your salad bar. I saw one of your buddies today gettin' into my roses for his meal and fed him a lead after dinner mint. One shot suckers. I'm watchin' so stay off of my garden!

Family portraits

Every year for our anniversary we go down to the local portrait studio and have a family picture taken. Since the kids have gotten older we don't do a monthly picture of them anymore so this is also a good excuse to get recent shots of them as well. As it turns out this year, we have been so busy all summer that we didn't get around to having the pictures taken until over a month later. Early in August we got our sitting appointment and went down to experience our annual "Kids-can't-smile-simultaneously-and-mom's-pulling-her-hair-out-while-Daddy's-rolling-his-eyes-and-asking-are-we-done-yet" event. It went rather smoothly this year (relatively to the angry badger den that was two years ago) and the pictures were good enough to buy. Of course, my favorites are of the kids by themselves. They can't seem to take a bad picture at this age.The photographer had an elmo toy that my little man was all fired up about for his picture and can you tell my little girl wants to be a princess?

A day with the girlz

Daddy was great and watched the kiddos while I got to take a 4 hour train up north last Friday night to visit with a couple girlfriends. We played some games, scrapbooked, went to a farmers' market, went out to sushi, went line dancing, and all-in-all had a very fun time. Then I turned around and took the same train back Sunday. We got lots of things done and had a chance to relax among friends. Not bad for just over a day spent away. Now my batteries have been refreshed again. It's perfect timing too because we're trying to work on this potty training thing and it's taking a lot of energy :)

Another week gone by

It's amazing how the time is flying these days. We have been so busy this summer that it seems like I'm just barely blinking and now it's almost over. Last weekend was another fun one. Hubby & I joined several friends at the river for a 6 hour raft barge trip. Here's a couple highlights:
1) The theme was patriotism so we encouraged all such things accordingly
2) It was really nice to see some friends that we haven't seen in a while3) It was hot and several people got burned, but the cool water kept us happy
4) Probably the biggest highlight however, was feeding a herd of wild burros
Another memorable weekend in a very memorable summer. Thanks Nana & Grandpa for watching the kiddos so we could take some time together. We had a great time.

New Hogan Reservoir

We had a great time last weekend, about an hour east of Stockton. Both my siblings joined us with family/friends in tow. There's a reservoir there that apparently nobody else has gotten the memo about because it was beautiful and the water is warm and there were virtually no other boats (or people) on the water at all. We got to camp right by the lake too, which was pretty neat. Shhh - keep it a secret - it's too good to let the public catch wind of.

Decorating fun

Last week it was Nana & Grandpa's anniversary and since they were gone on vacation we thought we'd decorate the house for them to see when they got home. The kids had a fun time throwing white flower petals all over the floor, wrapping presents and adding tinsel to make things sparkle. Their favorite part I think was getting to test the jordan almonds for edibility.

35 Years?!?!

Congratulations Nana & Grandpa on your anniversary.
We hope you're having a fun time in Mexico.
Here's to 35 more!

License Plate

We were driving down the hill this morning on our way to run a couple errands and meet up with friends when I noticed that the car in front of us had personalized license plates which read:

"KAT LADI"

I am bummed that I didn't get a picture of it and all I could think was that I'm guessing she doesn't get hit on in rush hour traffic.

Monkeying Around

We had a fun time earlier this week visiting the animals in San Diego. We were there from lunch time until closing so we got to see the animals at their more active times, around dusk, which is neat. If any of you live in the area and are contemplating going, do it. The later summer hours are nice for beating the heat, the new elephant exhibit is very cool and there were really no crowds to speak of while we were there. Here's some highlights:

Shake it Baby!

We did an easy and fun craft today that I thought those of you with kids might like to try. All the supplies that you need are:
-empty, dry water bottle
-paper
-crayons
-tape
-glue
-rice or popcorn or beans or marbles (or any other pebbles)

1)Cut the paper into 4X11 (printer paper folded lengthwise)
2)Have your little darlings color the paper with crayons
3)Tape the paper around the outside of the water bottle
4)Fill the bottle with rice/popcorn/beans, etc.
5)Glue around the inside of the bottle cap and screw it on tightly to the bottle
6)Give it to your little one, turn on some music and watch your little one shake it!

Lake Isabella

We went up to Central Cali for the weekend to visit some friends and had a great time in the 107 degree weather. How you ask? Well, we had the river to play in on Saturday (where hubby limited out on trout) and the lake to play in on Sunday. What a great weekend and TOTALLY worth the drive. I wish all of these friends lived closer to us so we could do these kinds of weekends a little more often.

Our Day with the Stars

Since both of her sisters got to go to a theme park while they were here (Hurricane Harbor & Sea World), I figured it would only be fair to take my niece to one while she visits this summer too. She likes movies so we decided Universal Studios would be best. Last Thursday afternoon we took the metrolink up to Moorpark and stayed with family then got up early Friday morning and spent the better part of the day at the park. Her favorite part of the day was the fancy breakfast buffet we went to at the Hilton and her second favorite part was the Simpson's ride (which I have to admit, was pretty cool). We had a bit of a falling out after she trusted me and got onto the Jurassic Park ride and proceeded to be scared out of her wits until the ride was over though. Oh well, you take the good with the bad I guess. I knew better than to take her on the Mummy ride after that (not that I could have gotten her on it if I wanted to). Overall, a fun day with the stars in Hollywood.

A Night Under the Big Top

Ringling Bros & company came to Anaheim this week and we drove down to check them out. Nana & Grandpa joined and we all had a very fun time. Here's some quick highlights:

Hair's to you!

My niece is visiting for the summer and we have had quite a heat wave. Add to that, she gets loads of knots in her hair and whines like a wounded cat when I try to brush them out and all signs point to needing a haircut! She's got quite a challenge when it comes to hair because her Mom's hair is straight and Dad's side gave her curls, so she's got straight hair growing on top of the curls. What to do? We didn't want to lose length but needed the volume reduced. Layering seemed the obvious choice and the added benefit is that her natural curls (jealous) show up much better now. Here's the before & after shots:

It's Easy Bein' Green

I've been trying to get around to refinishing the toy room for quite some time now. I made some curtains, painted the trim and cabinets a couple weeks ago, refinished a kids' chair, and bought a full-sized chair and shelves to refinish. Today I finally got around to working on the shelves (after seeing the complete destruction that is the toy room right now). After sanding it for a bit with belt sander (insert Tim Taylor grunt here), I invited the kids to help me paint it. Of course, it didn't turn out nearly as neat as it could have if I did it myself, but every time I see an imperfection in the paint job, I will remember the fun time we had painting together.

Gettin' dirty

We had fun last weekend when we went camping with some friends at a local campground. Daddy made some carne asada, the kids played some impromptu t-ball, we went for hikes, spent most of Saturday on the lake, had a couple campfires, roasted s'mores (apparently two syllables for all of us non-grammar types) and in the meantime, got really REALLY dirty. It was a incentive to wash the bathtub Sunday after we got home, unpacked, and saw for ourselves how very dirty we really were. As everybody knows though, lots of dirt means lots of fun!
PS~Thanks -J- for the pics

My 30ish Sis

Happy birthday old lady! Your daughter made you a birthday stack of cookies since we didn't have cake on hand.

I'll leave you with some famous words to ponder on your 30-something birthday:

The woman who tells her age is either
too young to have anything to lose

or too old to have anything to gain.

Birthday #2 for my Big Guy

Last Friday was my little man's birthday so on Saturday we had a shin-dig for some close family & friends here at the house. He asked for a "car birthday" so of course, I tried my best to oblige. The day was beautiful and it's always nice to have a house full of people who want to celebrate.

A big family dinner

Since we had lots of family visiting for the weekend, we took a drive up to Sky Forest and had dinner outside on the deck at the local Mexican Food Restaurant. There's nothing like good weather, good food, and good company to make for a good evening.

The Terrific Twos

Happy Birthday my sweet little man.
~~I love you~