Our life and stuff

No good pictures

We went out to dinner with family after Sunday meeting.

We all had our little cameras out.

I took lots of pictures and trust me, none of them were any good.

Seriously.

Don't believe me??  Just look...

 

(I will continue to post them small)

(Because when bad pictures are BIG - they look even worse)

  

 

(this one gives you a hint of how well-behaved our little ladies are...)

 

(Editing and a switch to black&white BARELY saved this one...)  
 

 

It's not like I was trying to take bad pictures either.

But it didn't stop me from posted them. 

They will be funny to look at in about 3 months... 
 
    

Shooby Dooby down to Ruby's

School is out for THREE WEEKS - we needed to celebrate!

The kids chose Ruby's Diner

We had:  BBQ chicken, French fries & an Asian Salad

We saved room for: Apple pie, Ice cream & Chocolate Shakes

  

 

 

We all shared...

  

 

The food was great, thank you Ruby.

Speaking of Miss Ruby,  she is down-right sexy...

 

 
 

Having a Girl

When I found out I was having a girl I imagined doing girly things with her...

*Painting Nails

*Wearing Pearls & Lipgloss

*Shopping for Shoes

*and going to the Salon ~

Dec. 15th 2009 - 4 years old

Get READY

 

Get SET

 

and WAIT...

 

She was so patient and adorable. 

Right after I took her yawning picture she whispered to me -

Did you see her wash my hair?  That was awesome.

 

GO

She checked herself out in the mirror -

I love it!

She felt so fabulous... just like a girl should.

   

Just because

I was working, working, working... busy away in the office. 

'Bouquet delivery'  she shouts-

I guess she noticed I haven't had much time to gather fresh roses for the house.

The other day I told her she isn't allowed to turn five...

I have to Mom.

No, I need you to stay four and tiny and be my little girl.

I just can't.  I'm getting big and I'm gonna have babies too.

{gasp}

{slow down... stay little} I think.

She does cute little things sometimes that reminds me how big she's getting, like my bouquet.  Then last night she wanted to do the dishes after dinner.  I gave her a bit of silverware and the bowls from our soup to wash. 

She complained how her sleeves got all wet as she used her arm to wipe back the hair from her eyes.  And after ice cream, she grabbed my bowl and told me she'd wash these too... but in the morning, I don't want my pajama sleeves to get all wet.

(What a practical girl)

 

I love the big girl she's turning into. 

And I'm sure she'll even be a wonderful Mother... in about 30 years. 

Change of plans

 

Our weekend was looking busy.  Like usual.

1. We had an Adults only party to attend up in LA on Friday Night.
2. Luke was in a baseball tournament Saturday AND Sunday
3. Sydney was invited to a *girls party* on Saturday afternoon. 
4. We had family returning from a cruise Sun AM- we offered and they accepted to pick them up from the terminal and drive them home.
5. Sunday night was a family dinner to see old friends visiting from Australia. 

Thursday night I was up late, trying to plan for being at three places at once AND IT STARTED RAINING.    Things sorta fell into place.

* The rain continued to fall through Friday, cancelling the weekend of baseball. 

* My Mom is awesome and came to stay with the kids. 

* We drove up early to LA and checked into a hotel...

 

It was a quaint little place on Sunset.  There was a fireplace and everything. 

The rooftop-view was beautiful... especially on a rainy night.

  

The party that night was fabulous -  we had a great time!  It was at the House of Blues in West Hollywood - crazy place.  This is me with my friend Susan, the only picture we took all night...

 

* * * * *

Instead of rushing off to a baseball tournament on Saturday morning we slept.  We called-in room service and enjoyed breakfast in bed.  Alone.  Until 11am.

What a lovely weekend it turned out to be... 

  

The other day...

 

She wanted to paint all morning

There was a snack break - we had leftover Minestrone soup.

(which was fantastic by the way)

 

... her attention to detail = loving that eyeshadow. 

 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

The other day she was sitting on my lap - looking at me and listening as I talked about whatever.  Suddenly she started smiling, very pleased about something...

Curious about her change in demeanor I ask what made her so happy?  

"I could see me in your eyeballs."

 

* * * * * * * * * * 

 

I rarely ever buy these fried onion pieces even though they are awesome.  

That's because I'm not crazy about green bean casserole.

Who ever said they belong to green beans anyway?

This week I noticed I had them in the cupboard & they were FABULOUS on shepherd's pie.

I'll be throwing them on meatloaf too.  YUM  

   

Saying Goodbye

The last few weeks I could tell something was wrong with our fishy Ariel.  I gave her fresh water, fed her but she was never herself.  Today she was so still, Sydney said she was just hungry.  We fed her and Syd tapped on her bowl, 'eat Arial - come on girl - eat your food and get better'.

But she didn't eat her food.  Sydney asked to keep her on the dining room table with her today.  In the time it took to do the dishes tonight, we noticed she sunk. 

We decided to get Sydney out of bed to let her know that Ariel was just too sick and died.  She was strong until the toilet flushed.  Then she cried.  We didn't want her to wake up to find Ariel gone, this way she got to say goodbye. 

We let her know that we could get a new fish if she wanted.  Then Luke jumped in...

'yeah we could get a new fish or I could finally get a turtle'.

 

Miss Ariel   June-Dec '09

Monday's Menu 12.7.09

  Links:  Wednesday  Weekend

 

It is in the forecast to rain for 3 days later this week/weekend...  I can't wait! 

2 yummy links above:  The first being a new SOUP recipe.  It sounds delicious and will be welcome on a rainy cold afternoon.  The second are those muffins.  I've made them a few times and they are awesome.  They are so tasty and the perfect little treat to use those brown bananas.

 

In the middle of nowhere

 

(in case you were wondering)

(we went to Vegas not Salt Lake City)

We rolled into town while it was still daylight. 

Check-in was a breeze and we were jumping on the beds in no time.   

The secret to enjoying a getaway with the kids... go for the big room

The kids had their own beds and TV in a separate room.  We all went bowling, ate lots of food, slept in and went to see Planet 51.  Finally, it was time to venture into town - to see The Las Vegas Strip. 

We were both hesitant to remove our car from valet, she was so safe and cozy.

YOU SEE... On our last trip to Vegas we went to the mall at lunch time.  We were there for about 2 hours, shopping.  While we shopped our car was being stolen.  That really sucked.

3 long days later,

she was found.

We picked her up that night and brought her back home...

Anyway, I know these types of things happen everywhere but you can understand our hesitation.  We decided to drive but as we stepped outside, a bus passed.  Perfect.

Have you ever ridden the bus in Vegas?  Me neither.

Would you like to join us?  I thought so.

... Follow us

 

You can take a seat right up there next to me, upper deck front row.

Should be fun...

 

 

Pretty exciting huh.

The next day we started our ride home through no-mans-land

It wasn't nearly as exciting...

But we were safe and cozy in OUR car - this time.

  

Road Trip

The kids are out of school.
We took to the road...

About the time I took this picture Sydney asked if we could play 'i-spy with my little eye'...

'it's something tall and kinda brownish green with pointers.'

Just a wild guess but could it maybe  be, oh I don't know...  a cactus?

[ Hours in the car ]

We should be there before sunset...