The Chief's week of birthdays

"The Chief" had his birthday last Wed. It was a busy week! We went to a birthday lunch at Red Robin on Saturday. My kids LOVE going there for their birthdays and if you sign up online for the birthday club you get a free meal - not a bad deal for the parents! Monday was labor day so we had the grandparents over for donuts and presents since Wed. was going to be SO busy!
We only had a few minutes on Wed. night in between homework and getting "Sweet Pea" to dance class. We ate one of "the Chief's" favorites, hot dogs, and he got a remote control jeep that he loves, big surprise! "The Chief" LOVES chocolate donuts so we ate them again on Thursday when we celebrated his birthday at preschool.

Saturday was the much anticipated "Pirate Party" with his friends. This was his first friend party and he was in heaven! He was a great little host and was so nice to all of his friends. I was even a little surprised during the gift giving time that he didn't just rush through all the presents he took time to look at each present and say thanks (I think... I hope). He was adorable in all of his pirate gear.

(Pirate Friends!)

We all had pirate costumes, made pirate treasure boxes and treasure maps, had a pirate treasure hunt where they dug up REAL buried treasure (A treasure box pinata) We ate a pirate ship cake and the Chief's favorite mint ice cream. It was a fun day! Argh! I never would have survived it without Mike and my Mom here to help out! The treasure box craft was a bit more complicated than I expected, of course, so we needed a lot of extra hands to help out. In the end the kids loved them! And they all took glue home to fix the broken parts.Here are photos of the cake. It turned out so cute!! Thanks to Mike and some of his brilliant last minute suggestions. As well as rushing to the store to buy gummy worms and sour octopus candies that made GREAT sea monsters. All the kids loved it.

First Day of Preschool

I'm finally catching up! It's only been a week and a half since the Chief actually had his first day of preschool. He was so excited and he looked so cute! He wanted to ride his bike since that's what he sees the "big" kids doing on their way to the elementary school. He's so big.
He ran right into "Ms. KonaDee's" with his cousin. It was like they had never been away for an entire summer. I had to make them stop and come back out just to get a few pictures. He was so excited to finally wear one of his new school shirts and his super cool new school shoes.

And off they go for another great year of learning! It's so fun to have him in the same class with his cousin, they love all the extra time together. There were a few times last year their work was sent home. They would have so much fun playing together they didn't always get to their work. It looks like it's going to be another fun year!

Little Brother

So the Chief is on his little brother kick again. We are carrying this little alien with us everywhere and making sure he gets his own place and food at the dinner table. I snuck him away just long enough to get a photo so everyone could appreciate just how truly "little" our "little brother" is. At least The Chief is not rejecting a little sister, he just wants a little brother too!

These photos are next to the rug by my front door. I guess they don't really give you a perspective of how little he really is.

It's thanks to The Chief we may get the names we want for the new baby. His name of choice is "Hannah Montana". This of course sends Sweet Pea into a fit of hysterics. A couple of days ago she said to me, "Mom, it's ok if you want to name the baby after a princess, I won't be jealous anymore." I think she is so scared we might actually name her after a "rock star" that she would rather put up with a princess. For those who don't know, Sweet Pea is planning on being a rock star when she grows up. She's going to live in a hotel so that someone else will make her bed and she can eat out ALL the time. Oh, and she will teach swimming lessons in the hotel pool in her free time... I don't know about you but that sounds like a "princess rock star" to me!

First Day of School! First Day of School!!

Sweet Pea has been quoting that line from Nemo. She was so excited for her first day of school! Second grade seems like such a big change from first. Why is that? And don't say because I'm getting older! She is so independent! I wanted to walk her into her class. We were on the steps on the outside of the school and she says to me, "Mom, I uh... don't want you to walk me in." So we compromised and I would only go in the hallway far enough to take her picture at the door but not walk into her actual classroom.

She is very lucky to be in the classroom right next door to where Grandma is teaching. She loves to see her Grandma in the hallway and give her hugs. She will miss her as a substitute! Sweet Pea was excited to wear her new clothes and especially her new "Hannah Montana" shoes. Which they aren't really. They are sparkly and have a star on them so we dubbed them with an important name. She hates to wear shoes so I figure whatever it takes to get her to wear them is fine by me. (She still said they hurt her toes... we bought them 5 days ago.) Shoes are just a necessary evil to my children.

For some totally bizarre reason this photo will ONLY upload sideways.

Jen's Tag

So I was lucky (I guess) and got Jen's tag after a marathon cleaning day. We called it "Back to School Cleaning" and scoured the house last Saturday. What a fun way to spend your last day of summer! We did of course then take the kids out for an exciting lunch, so it wasn't all bad.

Anyway - here's my tag. I agree with Mom, it was a little scary taking a self portrait.

I don't have a favorite pair of shoes, or a pair anywhere NEAR as cute as Jen's. I obviously need to shop with Jen and TK. So instead I chose my favorite pair of earrings.

Here's a photo of my kitchen sink. Don't you love the pink counter tops? If I bought this house that would be the first thing to go!

My Fridge.
My laundry room. It doubles as food and clothing storage.



Here's my toilet... not to exciting. I should have been like mom and photo'd my entire bathroom. Then I could have a clean bathroom whenever I wanted.
Here are my kids. They are over at grandma's. That must be why my house is still clean, 2 hours after cleaning it. Sweet Pea and The Chief are watching something on "Disneyland" and Loobers is doing her favorite thing, getting in mom's snack cupboard for the fruit snacks and pretzels.

Here's my bedroom closet. Now this is truly embarrassing! Not the most orderly spot in my house that's for sure. It's so tiny it's a little difficult for Mike and I to both cram in.

My favorite place right now is my bed. I already can't sleep at night, but it's sooo comfortable.

My favorite vacation right now would be Disneyland with the kids or Hawaii with Mike. Probably Hawaii with Mike since walking several miles a day and standing in long hot lines would probably kill me right now. (I can't take credit for these photos, but I HAVE been to all these beaches. I know - I hate me too.)

Hanalei, KauaiiWaimanalo, Oahu

PoiPu, Kauii

Kissin Cousins

Ok, so yes I stayed up half the night working on this, but I learned how to do some COOOOL new stuff!! These photos happened when Mel and I were in the kitchen making rice krispy squares. Watch out Mel, you have a little Casanova!! I guess one of these days I'll start including some journaling ON my pages. I'm just having too much fun learning how to edit the photos to leave room for journaling right now.

All Night Scrap

Just thought I would post the few photo's I had from the party. I really missed you girls who were too far away to come. We had so much fun! It was a very small scale version of Rhonda's. Mike borrowed a projector from school so we even had the movies on the wall. It was so much fun we'd like to do it a couple (or more) times a year. Let me know what you think!



Notice Melonee is mysteriously missing from all pictures! We also forgot to photo the food and movies for those who missed out. It was good stuff! We ate everything from nachos to homemade lime rickys. They were the best!



Mike even took a picture of the full moon... I guess that explains a lot.

Terrifically Two

So yesterday Loobers through a tantrum. It was a doozy! I used her crib as a time-out (holding pen) until she calmed down. Before you see the photos and wonder how I could possibly stand and snap shot after shot of her in such a heightened state of distress, allow me to explain.

Time-out came after she opened a brand new gallon of milk and poured it all over the floor trying to help herself get a drink (I should have taken a picture). While I mopped up she dumped out all the crayons and markers (3 pencil boxes full) and colored on the wall, floor, her arms, legs and toes. (No, I didn't get a photo of this either.) As Melonee once told me, she is going to be an artist someday and life is just a blank canvas waiting for her too color. Especially a piece of "life" that is white and sparkling clean. The cleaner this "life", the more inviting to her artistic sense.

While I was "magically" erasing her masterpiece (bless you Mr. Clean) she went into my room and found a "tub" of lotion to slather herself, bed, carpet, wall... anything within arms reach. Her artistic style is obviously attracted to a variety of mediums. (once again, no picture)

I finally got smart, kind of. I cleaned her off, sort of. And put her in her "holding pen". Now THIS I got picture of! I'm saving them for her wedding video. I'll let you have a sneak peak.

She was yelling at me, "I tyell my Mommy! I tyell my Mommy!" This is what she yells at the Chief and Sweet Pea when she wants them to get into trouble. I thought to myself, "Go ahead honey, go tell your Mommy!"
Have you ever seen such complete mournful devestation?

I have to admit, these really do break my heart! ("you bwoke my hwart" as Loobers would say)
Here she is trying to "hide" from the pictures. If you want to see an angy child get more upset, take their picture during a trantrum. She was mad!

This is either when she realized I would get her out after she calmed down or she's pausing for a breath! I didn't post any of the pictures where she is throwing anything within arms reach. Her crib is basically empty now.

It's a Girl

And it's so early in the morning I don't know what I'm doing still awake!! I know I didn't call everybody with our news, so here it is. It's a girl!! We're very excited, especially Sweet Pea. The Chief was devestated! He has since "adopted" a toy alien and calls him "little brother". He takes him everywhere from the dinner table to swimming lessons, feeds him, bathes him... And now all he talks about is "when our next baby is a brother..." Yikes!

The Chief at the Park

So I had some time today to do some more digital scrapbooking... or should I say I "made" the time. The Chief was dying to have a page all to himself after Sweet Pea's. The color scheme is a little wild, but then so is the Chief. I'll update my favorite digital sites soon with some more GREAT stuff that "I" found. ("I" really means Melonee found it and called to tell me about it and then I fell in love with it too.) Anyway, watch for more pictures coming soon. I want to learn about brush strokes next, that seems really cool... If you've already figured it out than call or e-mail and teach me!

Digital Scrapbooking

Ok, So I'm getting hooked on digital scrapbooking and I tried it for the first time yesterday. I know, I'm always so far behind the times. It's so addictive when there are so many GREAT and FREE websites out there to download adorable things. My friend is loaning me here photoshop to try out and I love it!!! I had so much fun changing and painting all the little embelishments. I just finished my first attempt, some Christmas photos of Sweet Pea and I just had to share them. I hope the file is not so big I can't upload it.

Swimming Lessons

My kids have been taking swimming lessons this summer and they have all learned so much! I think we'll sign them up for another session in August.

Sweet Pea has gone from being afraid to be in water above her waist to touching the bottom of the pool in 4.5 ft water... as long as she can still touch the wall. Fine with me - I think that's a HUGE step in the right direction. And she now loves the lazy river... formerly known as the river of terror.

She is holding on to her teacher for dear life!

The Chief is a fish at heart. He can float on his tummy all by himself and likes to see how long he can stay underwater holding his breath... this freaks me out a little.

He looks so cute in this life jacket!

Loobers is loving her Daddy class. Her favorite part is chasing the floating toys around the lazy river. She cries when it's time to leave and always wants to go play on the "off limit" toys during class. What a rebel.

Mueller Park Picnic

This was our picnic at Mueller Park. It sure brought back memories of when I was a kid throwing rocks in the stream and chasing squirrels (the animals, not my kids).

We fed them grapes. Is that ok?



My squirrles on a rock.


This was the day before Grandpa went home. I think he was a little sad today.