What a Long Strange Trip It Is!

Ean's first baseball practice!

2011-03-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Last night was Ean's first baseball practice. He did very good and had
fun! We are excited to see him progress throughout the season.

Back in the Game

2011-03-01T11:47:00.001-08:00

Made some changesto the blog planning to make it a priority and plan to be back to blogging now.

A day trip

2009-04-11T16:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took a day trip to the snow. We had never taken the boys to the snow so they HAD NO IDEA what they were getting in to. It actually started to snow as soon as we got out of the car, which I thought was cool. The boys were miserable at first but once they started playing they were fine. I usually work most weekends so it sure was nice to turn off my phone and not worry about anything. Here are some pics from our adventure.

Number 5 Birthday and a 1 year anniversary

2009-03-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't lost my job and sudenly found a bunch of extra time! I just felt this was a good opportunity for a Moore update.

Well, my oldest son has turned 5 and I have mixed emotions about the whole thing. As I am sure every mother has gone through there is the freedom of having a child that can manage for short periods of time without constant supervision but on the other hand where did my sweet little baby go? The one that I could count on to need me to hug and hold and take care of. Also, where did this constantly dirty, stinky, smart mouth BOY come from that thinks every body part and its name is the funniest joke he has ever heard? He wanted a snake for his birthday, that is THE ONLY thing he wanted. NO he did not get one.

We had a typical birthday bash. He wanted a dinosaur theme so we did that and we hired a reptile man to visit with his modern dinosaurs. Here are a few of the photos.

Today being St. Patty's day is also my One year Anniversary of my job with McMillin Mortgage!! I am very excited to reach this milestone and estimate I have reached my 100 mark for loans closed over the past year! WOW!!! I feel very blessed to not only be in the industry I am in AND be very successful.

We have been fine. Jim is doing more in the way of helping people keep their homes and helping banks with the reo's they have and selling some too. I have of couse been busy with my work. The boys are still attending daycare at Kristen's and Ean goes to preschool two days a week. They have been growing so fast it is crazy!

Ean will start Kindergarten in the fall and we have applied for our local private christian school. He had to do an assesment so now we are just waiting to see if he is accepted. The cost is comparable to what we pay in daycare and we feel the education is far superior so we are praying that it all works out.

I realize I haven't posted in a long time but promise to try and be better! I am working from our home office now so I have more access to me personal computer and time to post short updates.

My Kind of Diet

2008-09-20T09:15:00.001-07:00

We are still alive!!

2008-08-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

While Jim is putting the boys to a nap, I thought I would post something to say we are alive!

On the July 4th weekend (which seems so far back now) we took a road trip to Oregon to see my family. Hi family!! We stayed for 4 days and even took the dog. It was great, the kids had a blast and as a matter of fact we did too. I had wanted to post a big thing on our trip since I did take so many pictures, but time is limited around here.

I have been working 10-12 hours a day 6 days a week, so by the time I get home the computer is the last thing on my mind. I check email and that is about it. Today I was able to get caught up on some blogs that I have missed, and I am alsways glad to see all the "boys" in our family are growing up so cute and well behaved, NOT!!!!

My boys have reached the stage in their life that I think is going to be with us for many years to come. The taunting and teasing stage. It is usually Ean taunting Ben, but when Ean is weak in some way (hungry, tired, or both) Ben gives back as good as he gets. I am contstantly saying, "stop that, quit, knock it off, I am going to spank you both, Ean stop, Ben stop...... etc." I even annoy myself!!

Ben is getting ready to turn 3 so I am starting to plan his party. Since he is so into sports it is going to be a Borthday Sports Extravaganza- I am kinda going overboard, but it is going to be great!

All of Jim's brothers are going to be here for the Labor Day weekend and we are going to have a dinner at our house one night, so we are doing a lot of work to the yard to get it cleaned up. In case you didn't know, a lab puppy does not IMPROVE the look (and smell) of a backyard. So there are some major improvements that need to be done. It is kind of fun to get out and do something productive.

Well, I am going to sign off for now with a promise to try and post more often. Thanks for checking on us! Love to all....

PS- This is Ben (and Daddy) in his "new" big boy bed! YAY!!

He IS 2!!!

2008-06-26T22:22:00.001-07:00

This is the plug where Ean and Ben's jeep charges. The battery was plugged in and charging and Ben decided it would be a good idea to put a dime in between the wall and the charger. It touched the metal and sparks flew. We were all standing right there, Jim yanked on Ben I covered my mouth in horror and Ean and Ben looked at us like "what the heck happened"? It tripped the breaker but didn't seem to shock Ben or ruin the charger the socket or anything. I think the dime is done though.

Honestly I have been waiting to see the 2 year old side of Ben. He is usually not the trouble maker, he never has the chance to think about how to get in trouble, his brother thinks of ways for him.

MY Real Life.

2008-06-24T06:44:00.000-07:00

I decided to take part in this blog festival, taking pictures of a few real life things. Thank you to my blog friend S for sharing her real life shots and now it's my turn. This was definitely fun, I like seeing pictures of others' "real life" so hopefully you will enjoy seeing mine.

Here is our very full fridge. I get nervous when the fridge gets a litttle bare, so it tends to stay pretty packed. I just noticed the TWO jars of mayo. no, we are not mayo. fanatics, the jar on the left is almost out and someone already opened the other one.

This is our bathroom. Small and cozy but it works for us. You will notice as I just did the flooring is getting discolored. I think it is about time for some remodle work. *hint hint* honey. Also, the mismatched towels leave something to be desired.

This is the boys' closet. Nothing really fancy, this only shows a portion of their clothes, and you can see the top book shelf on the floor, of course the full laundry hamper and up top the rotating toys. Those toys are by special request and in order to get those toys down they have to clean all other toys up.

This is the laundry pile I was willing to share. Our hamper is full but tomorrow is laundry day, so these are the hang up clothes that still need to be hung up.

These are my favorite shoes. I should be showing you my flip flops, but honestly I just love how wearing these shoes make me feel and I get a compliment on them everytime I have them on.

This is my favorite room. Our bedroom. We bought this bed about 3 years ago and it has been the best purchase we ever made. It is so comfortable and everytime I step UP onto it, I feel like a queen. Yes I made the bed for the picture. Hmm.... I guess it's not real life then huh?

So, you might ask yourself, "why did she make the bed, and leave the kitchen sink looking like that?". Well, simply because I forgot this picture and now I am so tired I don't care that you see the dishes from dinner, that were my job to clean and the tomato plant I can't seem to keep alive. You will also notice that the soap dispenser is in the shape of a pumpkin, from Harvest time.

This is my self portrait. Actually I forgot to do it, and didn't want to cheat so this is my prebed photo. I tend to pull my hair back at the end of the day I am so tired of messing with it.

And now you might ask, "what were my children doing"? Thanks to my loving husband he was cooking and the boys were eating while I took the pictures.

A Fun Family Day!

2008-06-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went up to Sequoia Park for the day. It was really great. We went up about 6 miles iinto the park to Hospital Rock. It is an area where there are picnic tables and a rock with real Indian paintings and a trail down to the Kaweah River.

The boys could not get enough. They cried more when we left there, than when we leave Chuck E' Cheese.

While we ate the boys climbed the big rocks in the picnic area. They did manage to choke down a half sandwich between running around.

After lunch we went and checked out the Indian paintings (not pictured) and a natural rock cavern. Then went down the trail to the river. The river is still high enough to form a little swimming pool. The water was pretty cold but we all got used to it and got wet. We hung out out at the water for quite a while and then headed home.

It was a really good family day and I am so happy we showed the boys a little bit of nature and Jim and I remembered how lucky we are that we live in an area we can see such beauty in a "day trip".

Happy Fathers Day!

2008-06-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

What a fun day!

2008-06-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a car show at our church. They had bounce houses, carnival type games, a rock wall, free hot dogs, cotton candy and snow cones. We all had a great day looking at the cars playing games and Ean climbed the rock wall. After that, we ran a couple errands and visited Jim oldest brother and his wife, who just moved back into town. Now, all the boys are sleeping and I am planning for my night out with my husband.

We have gone through such a rough year and a half and next week will be my first official pay check on my new job (and boy did I need it). We are seeing light at the end of this very long and very dark tunnel. I wake up and thank God everyday now, and live everyday trying to be a better Christian, mom and wife. Man, it feels really GREAT! I know we have a long road ahead of us still, but trusting in God has made it so much easier to live through this and prepare for the journey ahead.

Last night was my "little" brother's (refer to the picture) high school graduation. I have never been to a graduation when the graduate was so close to NOT graduating, and we are all so thankful that he actually MADE it. I am not saying Cooper was incapable or dumb he just never applied himself and frankly hated school. It is just so great to know that is one thing he, my parents and I NEVER have to think about for him again.

The boys are doing great. While talking to my sister in law today she made me realize that if I am planning to put Ean in preschool I better start looking NOW. YIKES!!!! I hadn't really decided IF I want to put him in to preschool (since Kristen does such a good job) and it really dawned on me that if I do there are probably waiting lists for good ones, and which ones are the good ones, and how many days a week, and when do I start him, and...... ugghh.. what the heck??? Anyway, I guess as the cycle goes I will start looking and planning and seeing what is out there and what will be best for him.

Ben is getting some terrible two's things going on. He has always been so sweet and loving and now it's "you're not my friend mommy", "don't look at me mommy", "NO", "I don't like you", and the ever popular scream and door slam. I am really trying to give him tough consequences for those behaviors but it is a constant fight. Yuck!! And, man he is so darn cute, it breaks my heart when that little face tears up and he rubs those watery eyes; but then usually that is finished with a strong, heart felt, "NO", from him.

Well, I am going to finished cleaning up for the babysitter tonight and upload some pictures to Walgreens photo to have printed. Happy Weekend to all!!!!

For those moms wondering how in the heck do I get these shots, don't ask me, it's all about timing, attitudes and having that dang camera ready.

The JOY of Boys!

2008-06-02T18:59:00.000-07:00

"Mommmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!"

"What Ben"

"Ean growled at me"

"Oh, you are fine"

"No, I'm not!"

"Did he hurt you?"

"Yes"

"Where"

"My Feelings"

Random....

2008-05-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Top ten things on my mind right now; (in no particular order)

1. Ean's burn on his hand (from touching a hot muffler on a rototiller)
2. Our family budget.
3. Ben's allergies and mysterious black eye.
4. Interest Rates.
5. Laundry, never ending laundry.
6. Bear Grylls is a hottie.
7. Bunco next week.
8. My exercise regimen.
9. The pizza is still out on the kitchen counter.
10. Planning for our upcoming trip to Oregon.

Happy Memorial Day!!

2008-05-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

The boys in front of the McMillin Race Car- WOW!!

Just wanted to say hi, and that we are enjoying our day off. Thank you to all Veterans and families who have lost a loved one in battle, this family appreciates the price.

Super Busy!!

2008-05-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

Grumpy butt!!

The boys at work with me. I am glad you can't see the restraints. HeHE!
Go Cart racing at Adventure park, Ben is too little.
Ben watching.

Things have just been crazy around here. I know I say that all the time, but I really mean it THIS time.

My new job it going great. I will probably close more loans this month than I did the last year and a half. It is so great to know that we are going to be able to pay the bills. The people I work with are fun and easy to work with. The office is close to home and is downtown so I can get out and walk to lunch or whatever.

Jim isn't driving the truck anymore and is pretty busy with real estate. He is also staying home one day a week to be a house husband. It is soooo nice!!!

The boys are getting so grown up. Ben is talking so much and getting mouthy too. Ean is dressing himself, and driving the wheels off of his jeep.

A Hottie!!! What??

2008-04-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Watch my new video!!! (click below)

http://ume.f2m2.com/hottie/?id=47f42eecd1486

A great Easter!!

2008-03-25T22:42:00.001-07:00

We had a very good Easter, except that Jim was gone :-(

We made waffles in the morning, Ean the chef actually did most of the making, he loves them. Then off to church for their 2nd Easter celebration. Our church is so awesome they had two bounce houses and a HUGE eatser egg hunt. The boys had fun of course. Oh Ean also won in a kids raffle.

After church we went straight to my dad's house and did another easter egg hunt and they got their second Easter baskets. We hung out in the beautiful weather and had a Bar-b-que. YUM YUM!!!

At 4pm we left to go get Tom from the Fresno airport returning from his trip to Oregon.

We spent the rest of the evening at home, the boys are obsessed with playing outside.

Overall a very beautiful day! Thank you Lord for your blessings!!

Aren't these the cutest boys on the planet?

Very inexpensive Easter baskets!! But, they loved them of course.

Not the best picture but still a good one.

Ben had a little accident, a trike dump him off of the curb onto the street, head first. No brain cells suffered in the making of this owey.

Ean's four, what a chore!

2008-03-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Well, my big boy is 4. I can't believe it. He is officially pre-school age, not toddler age. This is so scary and kind of weird. He is one year away from school, OMG don't get me started.

So with our current money situation I was not allowed, oopss I mean I didn't go all out like normal for his birthday. We didn't have a big party just my dad and step mom, Jim's mom and Margie and Kristen over for a dinner. Oh and a bounce house too.

Of course to Ean it didn't make a difference. The whole neighborhood was over bouncing until we had to literally deflate the thing to get them to leave. He got his special cake, and enough presents to make him happy. He didn't care that there were no extra people, games, decorations or the typical 36 balloons. So all in all it was a good day.

That is a "Rocket" cake from the show Little Einsteins on the Disney Channel

Ean with Kristen in the bounce house

The Grandmas

A Wheel Barrel full of DIRT from Grammie and Grandpa (my parents)- Wonderful!!

Great stuff!!!

Big News!!

2008-03-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

After three weeks of interviewing and waiting I finally found out I am the newest Loan Officer for McMillin Mortgage.

For those of you out of towners Mcmillin is a builder currently in construction on 15 neighborhoods in the Visalia/ Fresno area. I am going to be covering 7 of those neighborhoods. Since there are so many incentives for people if they use the builders mortgage company (ME) I am guaranteed loans. PLUS, I can still do any other business that I would normally do.

I am very excited for this new opportunity. I start Monday and should be busy busy right away.

Some good days

2008-03-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

I am feeling a lot better just a few snotty moments (literally).

I completed my first week of my newest adventure! I am so happy I found this wonderful treasure!!! It is a website called Menu 4 Moms, it is a website put together by a busy mom and you subscribe (free of course) to get a weekly menu of easy and fast dinners. The menu for every night includes the main dish a salad and side/vegetable and she spells out each night and recipe. Some of you more domesticated types probably do this all yourself, but I was not blessed with a knowledge of hundreds of dinner ideas so this is HUGE for me. She not only provides THAT but she also makes a complete shopping list of everything you need. It is not crazy stuff either, normal everyday stuff you have. I am SOOOO impressed with myself. I made a wonderful NEW dinner everynight this week. I also downloaded a computerized shopping list and it is UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I make a general list as the week progresses then add my few things to the weekly shopping list she provides (since it downloads into the program directly) and I am done. Oh, and also the shopping list software provides for pricing each item if you want so you know automatically if something is too expensive or on sale!!! OMG- I am soo excited!!! I can't wait to make whats on the menu next week.

I also bought a Chicken Soup for the Soul book for mom's- so that has helped my mood. Church is tomorrow and that will really help too. OH- also I got a bible, I haven't had my own bible in a LONG time so I am excited to take it to church!!

I would also like to announce we have declared victory in the potty training battle. Ben wore underwear all day the whole week. He has had one or two pee accidents each day but not too bad. He is still in diapers at night but we will be working on that next. All I can say is thank goodness!

Anyway- things are a lot better and Jim comes home tomorrow so that is ALWAYS nice!

Boys are fun!

2008-02-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

I know I have done a lot of bitching about boys lately, but that's only because I have been sick for going on 11 days and it has gotten to me. I am not used to being sick and to top it off I have been just sick enough to feel really crappy but not sick enough to justify staying in bed. So I really feel over worked and underpaid.

Anyway, I did some pics of the boys and it made me remember why those Moore boys just melt my heart!

Just a damn Thank you!!

2008-02-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

On the list of bad weeks, this has to be the worst.

I never wanted to be the person who stayed home, made NO money and had to deal everyday with loads and loads of laundry, what to make for dinner every night, cleaning dirty boys' bathrooms, vacuuming, cleaning, grocery shopping with two toddlers, figuring out which bill you can afford to pay and which bill can wait, and getting up everyday to see the job you did three or four days ago needs to be done again! Not to mention, trying to run a dying business on top of it all!!!

This really is not MY DREAM JOB- more power to my friends and family who do this because I hate it!!! No, it is not lifting heavy machinery, or working in a stinky manufacture house, or pushing paper all over the place, but it is a thankless job. Because all your"bosses" don't have a clue "what it is you do all day".

I am to my wits end!

All I want is one DAMN thank you!!!

Adventures in Moore boys...

2008-02-19T22:19:00.000-08:00

We haven't been into much lately but I snapped a few pics and thought I would share....

Adventures in potty training, lasted for 2 hours, then Ean said "mom, something stinks".

Talk about a Cool dude! Ben has his own sense of style already, even at 2.

Today, I had a roller coaster of a day (one with a lot of dips and dive) but I am trusting God and I know we will be fine. Keep us in your prayers and thoughts. If you would like to hear my day (whine whine story) email me.

Lots of Love!!

What's wrong with this picture?

Update...

2008-02-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't written much lately so here goes.....

We are all doing fine. Jim is still driving truck, gone four nights a week until the real estate picks back up. Sooooo if you know anyone who needs or wants a house...**Hint hint... He tolerates it but he hates to be gone.

I am doing loans and taking care of the house and any real estate stuff Jim can't handle while he is gone. I am really starting to hate this industry but it's all I know. Loans are getting much harder to do and banks are getting much more competitive. I am sure everything will be fine, but not having anything going drives me crazy.

The boys are fabulous. They are so smart and so active and soooooo driving me crazy. They are a million miles a minute from the second they wake up until the second I put them to bed. Ean is back into the "why's" again. "Why do we drive mommy", "why is the sky blue", "why does it rain" why, why, why!!!!! AAAHHHGGGGHHH!!! But, then I have to stop and realize that is making him much smarter and I deal with it. Soemtimes I find myself answering without even knowing it.

Ben is talking like crazy, he can say anything he needs to. I think he talks a lot better than Ean did at his age. Ean will be 4 in March, I cannot believe it!!! We are going to have a bounce house for his b-day party. It should be a blast!

Overall we are doing fine, this work thing is frustrating but, hey it's just money. God will take care of us, that is what we are praying for right now anyway. I guess that is all for now. Love you all, thanks for looking!!

Kisses to all.....

My Superheros

2008-02-07T23:16:00.000-08:00

The boys were modeling this cape for me to list on Ebay, their Grammie is making them custom to sell. $20 is a bargain, comes in a variety or colors and she even puts an initial on it.

I thought these were cute pics.

Winter in Cali!

2008-01-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

This is what the boys wore ALL day Saturday.

(Don't worry they didn't go outside.)

Breaking the Fast

2008-01-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Jim and I have been attending this wonderful church for about 6 months. It has really opened our eyes to how we have been living our lives and how we NEED to live our lives to be better people and Christians.

Anyway, our church did a corporate fast at the 1st of the year. It was a 21 day fast, and we took part. Some people did the Daniel fast (that is not our church web site), but we were less brave than that. We both gave up meat and alcohol and separately I gave up all sweets, ie. Starbucks coffees, cookies, candy, sodas etc, and Jim gave up bread. WE MADE IT THROUGH!!! We were both very strong but it was a sacrifice. I think it got us talking to eachother more about our faith and what we believe and it definitely made me pray more.

Needless to say on January 21st we went to a church service to celebrate our fast and then Jim and I broker our fast by eating some In and Out, man it was the best In and out I had EVER had!!!

In case you were wondering we both lost near five lbs. for the 21 days, not much in my book, but not bad for no exercise. Also, I am over my 3 times a week Starbucks and needing to have soda with every meal. Hopefully that will be a life change I can stick with.

Me and Jim and Ean with "chicken stars" in the background.

Me and my Coke , mmmm....

The Life of Living with ALL Boys!!!!

2008-01-21T14:35:00.001-08:00

When you live with boys, (four of them) life is sometimes odd. We, as wives and mothers of all boys get used to certain things that mothers with girls don't.

The idea for this post came to me one day while picking up around the house. I came across what is in the picture below and it stopped me. Usually I would have simply passed by picking up along the way, but today it struck me like a ton of bricks, "what is THIS doing HERE?". It is only then I realized how much stuff I have just simply gotten used to.

What, not all cable boxes have clamps and screw drivers on top of them?

Hmm, I wonder why Jim can never find a screw driver?

A frog in the laundry, nothing out of the ordinary here.

Food laying around and an empty gumball machine, no big deal!

The toilet seat is up, normal!!

It's not a box it's a car (or train, or plane, or truck)!!!

I am sure there is so much more, I didn't even realize. Maybe Lisa could share some too.

You know it's 2008 when...

2008-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

you tell your 3 year old to put the cell phone down when driving.

Here is Ean with his Santa present, a real Jeep!

Ben's Bad Week

2008-01-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

Ben has not had the best week ever. I am not sure what is wrong with him, but between trying to stay up with Ean and just being TWO he has been clumsy and tired and just a little mischevious.

If you look closely at his forehead there are two bruises, the lower one I think he got banging heads with Ean, the higher one he got when he and Ean were running for the front door and Ean fell in turm pushing Ben down.

There is a bruise on his cheek too, he was trying to reach something on top of his dresser when his chair fell out from under him and somehow he hit his cheek on the dresser.

**WARNING THE BELOW IMAGES MIGHT MAKE YOU SQUIRM**

Then while in the bathtub he was reaching out of the bath while on his knees and his knees went out from under him. He hit the side of the tub and chipped his tooth and majorly bruised his gums.

Then tonight I thought he was eating his food so good until I went and looked. I guess not having a nap took a toll on him. I always watched those funniest home videos where kids are falling asleep in their highchairs and wondered what kind of parents would let their kids get so tired. Well, I guess I am one of those parents.

When "hey mom, I want gum", hey mom, I want gum, "Hey mom, I want gum, HEY MOM, I want gum, HEY MOM, I WANT GUM, doesn't work, get it yourself!!!!

Ben got the stool and climbed up, more than twice his hight to get his own gum. Little booger.

By the way, other than the tooth incident he hardly even cried.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!!

2007-12-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

To all of our Friends and Family who still check my Blog, Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year!!!

Lots of Love- The Moores (Jim, Lindsay, Greg (not pictured), Tom, Ean and Ben)

A Lazy Thanksgiving weekend!

2007-11-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving for us was pretty relaxing. Usually we are hosting so we are cleaning and cooking and stressing. This year all I made was a couple of pumpkin cheesecakes and we went to Jim's bosses house. Jim and Ben slept while Ean and I made the cheesecake. He is the best kitchen helper out there.

We had a really good time and just kicked back and talked and ATE ATE ATE! Jim ate so much he got sick, the food WAS that good.

I was able to get up and shop for Black Friday (4am BABY)- it was fun. I did get some good deals. I had never gone before so it was definitely an experience. I didn't wait in any long crazy lines, but Toys R' Us was kinda crazy. I waited to check out about 45minutes.

The weather just turned cold, so the boys put on their footed pajamas for the first time this weekend.

They were so cute, they couldn't figure out how they worked. They loved them and stayed warn all night.

Over all a good but LONG weekend, looking forward to getting back to normal and getting ready for Christmas.

It's Official!

2007-11-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am falling apart!- First to go- MY Eyes!

After weeks of headaches and realizing I have been straining my eyes a lot more lately I went for an eye exam. My near vision is fine but my distant vision is a little off. I have noticed for a while that my night vision was bad, but I didn't know glasses could help that.

After getting my glasses yesterday I realized how blurry things have been, especially the TV. WOW!

Anyway, I guess they are ok, it is sure nice to NOT have a headache so far today.

Third Pumpkin Patch

2007-11-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

October 2005

October 2006

October 2007

I know I am a little late, but I was just browsing pictures and this floored me. Finally I have a good picture of them together.

I promise to share all of the latest soon but, with a 2 year old and a 3 year old I am just exhausted.

By popular demand...

2007-10-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

Four boys a sleepin'

2007-08-19T16:12:00.001-07:00

Well, I am not sure how much time I have to post but I wanted to share a few pictures and let you know we are still alive. In case you haven't heard the real estate market is in terrible shape right now so Jim has started driving a truck again. He is gone four days at a time but then home four days. I am handling a lot of the real estate stuff while he is gone. We are hoping that it is temporary. The mortgage company I am working for is one of the few still standing after a month of many closures. We are being reassured daily that we are a very strong company but we still can't help thinking about the worst.

Greg is home. It is nice to have him back, he is a help and the boys love him. He is going to start looking for work this week (I am told) so anybody who knows anybody please let us know.

All four boys are napping right now, which seems so funny. I think Ben is waking up but it kind of feels nice to be a mama to so many boys. Although, going through 6 gallons of milk a week won't be so nice. YIKES!!!

Anyway, we love you all and miss you all, and if you want to know more email us.

WWAAAAASSSSS UUUUPPPPP???????

2007-08-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

SOOOOOO.....
I don't even know how I used to have time to blog EVERYDAY.. but here are some pictures and a very short update.

I am still working my "real" job. Jim is working part time driving a truck and doing real estate and the boys are growing, growing, growing. Tom is home and Greg comes home from "vacation" a week from Sunday. We moved back to our old house, and still have Kristen the nanny.

Anything else? I think that is enough.

Since my last post...

2007-06-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

....in pictures

Not shown is my new FULL TIME job and a Happy Birthday Mommy!

So sorry and we miss you all too!

A LOSER!

2007-02-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Ok- so I am a loser too.

Everyday I think about doing a post and the longer I wait the more I have to tell and so the longer it takes to post. So I am starting now and will try to fill you in.

We have been going like crazy the past few weeks. The new Year has hit us with a bang and most days I don't even know what day it is.

Ean and Ben are getting so big, everyday soemthing new is happening with them and everyday I want to tell you about it.

Ben is walking and running like pro. He has the funniest walk, kind of like what a drunk Charlie Chaplin would look like. He tries so hard to keep up with Ean and Hershey it is a crack up. Ean is turning into a little man. Except for the potty training. He is very vocal and loves to tell us what to do. He picks up on everything. Some of my favorite phrases are, "That will be fun" (after we say we are going to go somewhere) or "How about that" (when he asks if he can do something or if he can have something) or sometimes he tells Hershey "I'll spank your butt" (we don't encourage that but well you know). Speaking of the dog, he is so good with her, and a big help. Since it is still cold out at night AND she is a puppy, we baby gate her into the downstairs bathroom at night. Every morning when Ean wakes up he goes straight down there, lets her out and waits for her to go potty. Then when she comes in he feeds her. I am amazed at him for that.

On Saturday morning when I was gone he got up by himself (like usual) but this time he got into the fridge and decided the entire downstairs needed some flavor. So he got (the brand new) bottle of RED hot sauce and spread it throughout the house. In the washer, dryer, laundry room, cat box, cat food and water, on the furniture, carpet, counter, floor, etc. He also dumped out some salad dressing and tried to empty the cat box (unsuccessfully). Poor Jim spent three hours just cleaning it up, then when I got home I finished for another hour and a half. Jim was so upset he didn't even spank him, for fear of going overboard. So afterward I decided everyone needed a break so we went to Chuck E Cheese ( I know I am a glutten for punishment), my niece Sierra went too though so she helped a lot.

I have been really trying to stay focused at work and so far have been doing good. I am getting busy with loans again after the slow down and it looks like it will be a good spring. Jim is also busy fixing the three houses we have in remodle stage right now as well as the three rentals we are trying to keep up with. That poor guy can't even sleep at night he has so many things going through his head, nevermind the Real Estate company he has to run. WoW- I don't give him enough credit.

Anyway, I am going to pick up lunch for the guys I will post more soon.

The Boys' Valentine projects.

Ean and Hershey

The Boys'

Ean and Rugby (Rugby is visiting while Greg and Jeni are in Hawaii)

Picture of Ben and Mommy right before bed

I told Ean we were going to take a night night picture
Funny faces

Ben's newest face

Hershey
Me and MY MAN!
What a cute boy!

New Cowboy boots (which he hates)

Fun with balloons

Our Weekend

2007-01-24T17:26:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I had the Boys by myself while Jim went on a Boys trip with our friend Jay. They had a great time I guess other than the sea sickness.

The weekend went good for us too. The key was going to the park both days. We had fun!

Sorry for the short post I spent my time making this picture montage and now it is time to go home.

I will try to post again soon!

Friday Already?

2007-01-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

This week has flown by. I did pretty good until yesterday on NOT getting distracted. The boys are good. I am going to try and get a video of Ben walking since I haven't really shared that. A tenant got Jim and I sick last week. Jim was only sick for a couple days but I have been sick for over a week, I am finally feeling better though now. Just a head cold, but annoying anyway.

We don't have any BIG plans for the weekend. I plan to organize, organize, organize tomorrow. The toys are taking over! Then Sunday I have to go to Manteca for Rainbow so will be gone all day.

I did this slide show for my MySpace but I thought you all would like to see it. I will probably be using this a lot from now on. It is much easier than downloading photos onto Blogger.

Am I Crazy?

2007-01-10T16:27:00.000-08:00

Me thinks YES!

This is Hershey. She is a Chocolate Lab, we kept her when my mom left. The boys love her, and I just LOVE picking up after her and keeping her from chewing EVERYTHING.

The good news.... Jim is bonding with her!

The past TWO weeks... a BLUR!

2007-01-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

Let's start with Christmas...

So I told you about Christmas' 1 and 2 but I still have to fill you in on number 3-7.

The Friday before Christmas we had a gift exchange(Chrsitmas 3) with Kristen (the nanny) she bought the boys' the most adorable clothes (seen in the pictures below) and she MADE us a Keepsake box. She decorated it and decopashed pictures of the boys on it. She also made two smaller boxes to fit in it, decorated one for each boy. We got her a gift card to Pac Sun. I was so excited that she cares enough about the boys and us, she went out of her way to give us and them very nice gifts.

My mom arrived, with 9 dogs, on the 23rd of December. Their Lab had puppies and since there were freezing temps at their home and the pups were only 3 weeks old, they had to bring them. Not a bother, actually it was kind of fun having them. We did our family gift exchange on Christmas Eve (Christmas 4). It was great. There were TONS of presents as always! The boys got so spoiled and we only gave them ONE of their gifts that night. Jim's mom came over and Jim made his homemade beef stew. Jim did really good at the things he got me, even the clothes. But the thing that I got that was the most special was my mom gave to me my Great Grandmothers ring. It is nothing too big or extravagant, but it was so neat for her to pass down something to me that was my Great Grandmother's. After all of the presents were opened and everyone was getting ready to head home I read the book, Twas the night Before Christmas. I hope this year will be the first in a long time tradition that boys can remember fondly.

Christmas morning, (Christmas 5) I strategically got up, woke my mom and Alen up, got Ben's milk ready while Jim distracted Ean from going down stairs until we could by there to see what Santa had left for him. "Santa" didn't wrap any of the presents he left so when Ean came down he was a little awed by what he saw. Ben didn't really care, he was busy drinking his milk. Ean studied everything for a while then slowly began playing with each toy. I went a little overboard and did stockings, which neither of them cared about (except the candy). Santa also left a letter to Ean with a recorded message on it. He was very excited about that and even showed everyone that came over for the next couple of days.

After we got done with that we got ready and headed to my Dad's house to do Christmas (#6) with them. (My parents don't get along so that is why the two separate occasions) My dad made breakfast and we had a great time. They got Ean a tool bench. He might be a little young still for it, but he does love the power tools that they got him.

When we got back home my mom had already gotten the Turkey prepared to go in the oven, made a salad, cleaned up the kitchen and boiled the eggs for deviled eggs. We then finished the preparations for our Christmas (#7) dinner while she got ready, Ben had a nap and Ean started to make use of his new toys. We had dinner about 5pm, we had my brother David and our Friends Greg and Jeni and Paige over. It was a small but very nice dinner.

All in all, I felt really good about our Christmas. The boys got extremely spoiled but not mainly by us. We had a great visit with my Mom and Allen, a stress free Christmas over all eventhough there were seven of them. It spread out nicely.

_______________________________________________

Post Christmas...

On December 29th. We had a gathering at our house for anyone who wanted to visit or mainly see my mom while she was here. If for whatever reason you are reading this and didn't get an invite, don't be offended, it was mostly work of mouth and kind of last minute. It was so cool to see some of my mom's friends and some business associates. We had a wonderful time, and we were glad that so many people were able to come.

My mom and Allen left on the 30th (Saturday) to head home. I had a meeting in Fresno early that morning so I said goodbye before I left, but it worked out for me to have lunch with them as they headed through Fresno. It was extra special to see them one last time and visit with no kids or dogs or other people.

They say how you ring in the New Year represents how your year will go. I guess we will be spending our year in bed asleep. I did somehow manage to wake up just as the ball was dropping (since I left the TV on) and was able to get my New Years kiss.

Like I said in my last post, Jim and I have vowed to make 2007 a motivated take care of business year. That is why I haven't been able to make a post until now. I am really trying to stay focused at work and not get distracted with the 15 blogs and MY Spaces I want to check and comment on everyday. I am limiting my Internet and Email time and trying to stay on task.

I did have to take a "few" hours last week and make myself go to Costco. Since the Holidays are so awful in most stores ESPECIALLY Costco I hadn't gone in over six weeks. Most of you who are not Costco goers are probably thinking "ssheesh, who cares about Costco, you don't HAVE to go to Costco to get what you need, what is the big deal". Well this is the BIG DEAL...

I only bought the necessity items mind you. Meat, is so much better AND cheaper there, Diapers and wipes (bigger quantities and cheaper), Oatmeal, Cereal, Paper Towels, Apple Juice, Laundry Detergent, Milk, etc. It took me 20 minutes to arrange it all in the back of my car. People were looking at me like I was crazy, buying so much stuff. It was kind of funny.

Here is just a cute picture of the boys with one of their Christmas presents.

The Guilt

2007-01-02T13:26:00.000-08:00

OK so the guilt of not updating is tearing at me but, I will not be able to do an update about our Christmas' and New year, and my mom's visit quite yet. For my fellow bloggers you know how long it takes to put one of those together and I just don't have it today.

Jim and I are starting off the New Year right; We are promising to be motivated, organized, healthy, and successful. So I can't stay and ramble on right now, I have to conduct business and plan for Rainbow tonight. I can only pray I won't be too tired after my meeting tonight that I can stay up and post if not I will post tomorrow.

Thank you all who religiously check and once again I am sorry!

Christmas' 1 and 2

2006-12-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

We did our first two Christmas Celebrations over the weekend. Plus went to LA for my "best" friends wedding.

Since Tom was here we did a Christmas with him. Saturday morning he opened his presents from us. I let the boys open a couple too. He seemed to like his Bluetooth Headset and especially liked that dad paid for his car registration. (This picture makes him look REAL excited, but he is just yawning.)

Saturday nght we went to Jim's sister's house for a wonderful dinner and more family fun. The boys's each got stuff and we just ate and talked. It was nice to see a couple of the Brothers and to visit with everyone. Ean got a Tonka Ambulance and a police car and Ben got a "little people" Noah's Ark and they got a couple of cool books. THANK YOU to those who got them stuff! **Margie and Linda- Ean also very much enjoyed seeing all of Aunt Margie's Lights and the dogs.

Sunday was Laura's wedding. We have been "best" friends since 7th grade. She has lived far away for many years now so we drift in and out of touch. She did not want to burden me by asking me to be in her wedding, but I would have liked to. She is very practical and always thinks of the "right" thing for other people in a logical sense rather than emotional. She of course looked Beautiful and the wedding was nice. It was great to see all of her sisters whom I grew up with too and live far away. Since it was at 3pm, we went there and back the same day. The boys did really pretty good. By the time we were back to Tulare though Ben was DONE!

Instead of Cake they had these little individual pastry things. They were cool.

Ean enjoying the White Chocolate "motorcycle" wedding favors.

My mom should be here Saturday. Then we will celebrate Christmas 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. WHOO- won't we be ready to hang that Christmas tree out to burn. LOL!

In case you can't wait for the explanation of WHY so MANY- here goes:

3- Christmas with Kristen (Friday), she has things for the boys and we have things for her.
4- Christmas EVE- present opening with my Mom, Allen, Brother and niece.
5- Christmas Morning- Opening the present's Santa brings
6- Christmas at my Dad's
7- Christmas Day afternoon- Big dinner

Yikes I had better get to work!

Here is a couple funny pictures of the boys over the weekend. Ean likes to make his Bike and wagon into this big long train. Ben loves to ride on the back. Also, Friday night Jeni and Paige came over to do baking for some little gifts and they were terrorizing Jim while he tried to watch a movie.

They were screaming at the top of their lungs.

Happy Birthday Jim, Jimmy, Jimbo, Uncle Jim, Daddy, Babe

2006-12-13T22:24:00.000-08:00

Today is Jim's Birthday. I, OF COURSE, decorated his office and we had a little gathering last night. He wanted Pastrami sandwiches and German Chocolate cake for his Birthday feast (like when he was a kid) so that is what we had. I should have gotten a picture of the sandwiches because they looked weird but were actually very good.

The cake was kind of half-a** because I didn't do it ALL from scratch. I did a store bought cake mix then made the topping from scratch. I think the topping recipe was for a smaller cake. It was still good and Jim didn't care anyway.

There are 12 candles (4 +8).

Jim got a Foodsaver from my dad and Shaunah so there was some wrapping paper to play with, which kept Ean and Sierra occupied for quite a while.

Jim was tuckered out by the end of the day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2006-12-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

When we left the house on Saturday to get our Christmas Tree it wasn't feeling too Christmas like inside or outside. After all of the decorating and weather change, it sure does now.

Short sleeve shirts and sunglasses not too Christmas like to me.

This is us at the tree lot where we have gone for the past four Christmas'. We met the lady that owns it while I was waiting to do my lab tests when I was pregnant with Ean.

Daddy and Ean tightening the tree into the tree stand.

Living room decorated and tree up and lit.

The stockings hung (I still need to put Ean and Ben's names on theirs)

All of us (in a decent pictures I might add) in front of the Christmas tree.

The boys' in footed pajamas (my fav) while eating Daddy's homemade beef stew and watching TV.

Yep, now it is feeling like Christmas.

All that is left, is that jolly old fat man to come and bring us lots of presents!!!

It has only just begun!

2006-12-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

As Ben gets more confortable standing and walking ( not fully walking yet) he is getting more adventurous. He will stand on his little chair and on Ean's chairs and last night he wanted to climb up on the big chair and tear all of the wipes out of the box. He got very MAD when Jim made him get down.

Jim has always said Ben would be the calm one but I think he is going to be worse than Ean. He is getting shown all of the stuff that Ean knows how to do THEN will have even more things he makes up on his own.

I can only imagine what the future has in store for us.

When I downloaded the pictures just now I found a few surprises. Aparently Ean found my camera and decided to take a few pictures of his own. He took about twenty I only gave a sampling since most are of the ground.

Click here:

Ean's Photography

No good title...

2006-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was cut short for me since I went down to LA for my childhood friend's bridal shower.

I left Friday early afternoon, actually by the time I packed and stopped at the store for final needs I left after dark but anyway, I got down there abotu 8pm. I was able to spend the first night with her in her new apartment. Which, by the way, is more per month than we paid for our last house. I was great since we haven't had a sleep over together for many many year. We stayed up late then still couldn't get to sleep because we layed in bed talking. I loved it. The next morning we got ready and I was able to take her to her bridal shower. Since her and her fiance are not living together until they get married it was so nice to have alone time with her. Probably will be the last time in many years. The shower was at 10:30 am so I was able to head home by 2pm.

I got home fairly early and we had dinner at my dad's. Ean was kind of mad at me for being gone so he stayed away from me for a while. I was kind of sad, but he warmed up soon enough.

Sunday we hung out together and did some running around. We put up our yard decorations and some lights. Last year Jim and our neighbor had a contest of who could put up more but so far our neighbor hasn't done anything.

I had the kids for the morning on Monday, since Kristen had a dentist appointment. Ben was really fussy but I went to get their Christmas picture taken anyway. I went to Mimi's cafe because they have a nice fireplace and tried to get a free picture. of course they wouldn't cooperate and when they did my camera went dead. I ended up going to the mall and doing a Santa picture. It turned out ok too, but I am using it so you have to wait to see it.

The fireplace picture is below.

Well it is now 5:10 and my day has gotten away from me. I will post a couple more pictures and say good night.

What can I say...

2006-11-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

He's a weird kid!

If you haven't ever been to a real BINGO hall with real Bingo NUTS- you won't appreciate the above picture.

I forgot to post the next picture before now but, this a good time to do it anyway.

Ean is holding up his Roasted Rubber Ducky. If you have never smelled the aroma of a baked rubber duck before, believe me you aren't missing anything. The other night when I went to make cookies I pre-heated the oven and soon after the whole house was filling with the most foul odor you can imagine and billows of smoke. The poor ducky's butt was roasted off.

We went (Ean and I) to the Christmas Parade. Last year we didn't stay for all of it but this year we did. Ean loved it, he sat either on the curb or on my lap and didn't move a muscle. The picture in the stroller is as we were leaving, he is drinking his coffee (hot chocolate). It was about 50 degrees F, so we were FREEZING. I know my friends in the colder climates laugh to hear that but we are California kids and freak out if it doesn't get above 70 degrees.

There was a really cute picture taken a Ean and me but my STUPID camera bleached out our faces with the flash. I am taking up a collection to buy a new camera this year after Christmas. So if you have any donations please send them to me ASAP. LOL!

Yep he's a weird kid alright, and I have NO IDEA where he gets it!

A Wild Weekend!

2006-11-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

Ok- not really.

Since the weekend started on Thursday, well my weekend I should say, it has been full of interesting moments. Jim worked Friday and Saturday so his only day off was today.

I will share a few with you in this very little bit of precious blog time, the first all weekend. As I type Ean has finally been "beaten" to sleep, as Jim likes to say (he doesn't really beat him of course just out stubborns him), and Ben is watching a 30 minute On Demand show of Children Songs, AKA my "secret potion".

As you know Thursday was Thanksgiving. We bought our Turkey Dinner from a restaraunt this year, Mimi's, and it was good. We did make a ham and candied yams too though as well as appetizers. The dinner that we bought was everything from the Turkey fully cooked and seasoned to the pumpkin pie and whipped cream. We just had to reheat everything, which turned out to make as many dishes as if we made everything ourselves. The great part though was we didn't have to start "cooking" until 12:30pm for a 3pm dinner time. We only had 9 people including us and it was a great time. Our guests included my dad, step-mom Shaunah, brothers Cooper and David and Jim's mom.

Oh, I have to back track. On Wednesday night after the nanny left we noticed our "extra" fridge had chilled its last cola and we decided we needed a new one, especially since the next day was the biggest eating day of the year. A family of four shouldn't need an extra fridge but we do. I like to justify it by saying how we buy our meat at Costco in bulk and we need the room to store it and drinks like water ans sodas, but in reality we REALLY DO NEED IT. I can't imagine going back to only one fridge, I would have to be a lot more organized and thoughtful when I shop and I am just not that disaplined. So anyway we go to buy a fridge, Ean had been wearing underwear for almost a whole 24 hours with only one minor accident, and right before we left he had another accident but with time not so little (#2). Since we figured it was out of his system I put another pair of underwear on him and headed out to Lowes. I did however have the forethought to grab a change of pants and a pull up just in case. When we were discussing the fridges Ean was gently trying to interupt by saying quietly "mommy look it, mommy look it", like any diligant mother, I ignored him so what now seems like several minutes but may have only been one until finally I asked" what Ean?". In an embarrased and sheepish tone he replied "I pooped". I couldn't believe it. I would never had expected two in a row so quick together, looking back I guess he wasn't done from the first one and only stopped b/c he had to underwear on. I ran to the car which was parked WAY out in the lot b/c we brought the trailer and I told the boys to stay there thinking the bathroom was closer to where they already were. When I got back, Jim went up to buy the fridge and we went looking for the bathroom. Turns out it was on the opposite end of the store and Ean had to walk in his fully loaded boxer briefs all the way. By the time we arrived in the bathroom I still had no idea how I was going to get him cleaned up since I didn't have any wipes with me, and had no idea how bad it was. When I started to take his shoe off I quickly learned. Without sharing too much detail the boxer briefs did nothing to hold the mixture of diarreah and hard in and it ran all the way down BOTH legs. I had to have Jim buy handy wipes and 30-40 minutes later I immerged from the bathroom with a fairly clean little boy and one grossed out mom. The cute thing was now that Ean is talking A LOT, he talked to me the whole time cleaning him up, in his embarrased,nice as can be little voice.

Friday, in the morning I got up before dawn and headed to Toys r Us, not to shop but to instead work pulling carts in from the parking lot with the Rainbow Girls. We did that from 7am until 12pm. After which, I came home and Jim went to work. That night we went to dinner at probably my most favorite place, Tokyo Garden's, the place where they cook your food at your table on a grill right in front of you. The boys seemed to like it and since it is noisy in there it was the perfect place to take them.

Saturday (yesterday), Jim worked and the only thing we did since it was kind of cold and the malls were too crowded was went to check progress of the painting Jim was doing. I will have to post pictures of that another day since they are on Jim's camera. In the afternoon I called to see if Kristen wanted to come for the evening so Jim and I could have a date. She was fine with it so we went to a restaurant called La Dolce Vita, we had never gone before and I read in the paper that the guy that owns it and runs it is closing business so I wanted to try it. It is the coolest place, the guy the owns it is also the chef, waiter and dishwasher. He runs it like you are at his house for dinner. You get what he makes, there are no menus, no prices he just asks if you are allergic to anything and you get what he feels like making that night. Also, he doesn't allow children and if he doesn't like you he will not let you eat. He doesn't have set times or hours, if the sign outside says "Not Tired", then that means he is open. It was WONDERFUL food. We had FOUR coarses and actually got to witness him regecting people. After dinner we saw the movie Deja Vu, it was really good.

....... I had to quit writing this because Ben's movie ended, but I am going to post it anyway. I didn't go back and re-read it either so if I missed something I will post it later. Sorry, for the hap-hazardness.

Thanksgiving Table,

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

Wishing everybody we love a very Happy Turkey Day!!!

SAHM = Superhero

2006-11-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

I always knew I DIDN'T want to be a stay at home mom when I grew up, but this past week I got to prove it to myself.

A week ago (Monday last week) our Nanny "fell" down the stairs. Just so happened it was the same day Jim scolded her for the third time about being late and she texted him that he was an A-hole. So when I say "fell" you will know why. Anyway, on Tuesday after "falling" Monday she wanted to go to the doctor, so at 3:30pm last Tuesday I came home to be with the kids so she could go. That night at 9pm she texted me again and told me she is pregnant and the doctor wanted her to be off the rest of the week. Since Jim was working in Tulare I had to be home with the kids and my sister helped one day while she was here. So I really came to know what it is like for me to be home with the kids every day all day. I don't really care for it.

It was so hard. Ean has been treating me like crap lately. He defies everything I say, throws the biggest fits and simply doesn't listen. I try to do things I think he would like and still he fights with me. Ben wants me to hold him all of the time. If I walk out of the room, he cries, if I put him down he cries, YIKES, that is a bad habit for him to be in. I guess if I was home all the time and had a certain routine it would be better.

I had a revelation though... I promise to give more respect to those who are stay at home mom's and to give my new nanny a bigger break if something doesn't get done on any given day.

BTW- We fired our old nanny and we hired Kristen. Our babysitter who we promised not to steal from the daycare, she ended up giving her notice anyway and we scooped her up.

Third times the charm, right?

We went on our Wine Trip on Sunday. It was awesome!!! We met some great people and had a really great time. It totally cracks me up to watch profeesional, well educated people go totally off the deep end when given unlimited alcohol, limited food, and nervousness of being around new people. You know who you are and YES you will be invited again. LOL! Here are some pictures below, if you want the whole slideshow, email me, if you don't know my email call me.

From right to left (Wendy (my sister), Will (her husband), Janet and Mat (friends)

A crappy picture of me and Jim (I need a new camera)

Miguel and Sonia (friends)

***Explanation needed

At the last winery they had hats and wigs to try on and play with, so after going to three other wineries everybody got a little "loose", it was a crack up.

Jim is the one coping a feel, then Mat, Miguel and Wendy.

Me, striking a pose!

Dancing Boy

2006-11-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

We have had a crazy week. Jim has been working in Tulare (one of our FIVE vacant houses) all week. Which means he gets up and out of the house by 7am so I have the kids in the morning (by myself), then our nanny fell down the stairs, went to the doctor, found out she was pregnant and has had to be off all week since Tuesday morning. My sister and her family is here visiting (YAY!) but, since our nanny is gone I have had to ask her to watch the kids so I could work.

Tomorrow is a holiday for most people and since we celebrate Veterans it is a holiday for us. Also, Sunday we have chartered a Limo Bus and are going with about 12 other couple over to Paso Robles for a day of wine tasting and then dinner. I am SSSOOOOOOOOOO excited for it, we have been planning it for a couple of months and it will be alot of fun. Here is a couple pictures of the bus. We will feel like celebrities.

The "Limbusine"

Inside view... fancy huh?

I have a video of Ben standing and taking a few steps I will have to upload it later. He is so close to walking it is incredible, he still wants to crawl though because it is faster for him. Oh well, like my mom always said, "he'll *walk before he starts Kindergarten."

*add in anything like "potty train, give up the bottle, talk, etc."

Happy Birthday Joey

2006-11-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

My brother from a different Father Joey's birthday is today. Happy Birthday!

I tried to text these pictures to him tonight but it wouldn't go through.

I took these with my phone that is why they are not THAT great.

Dutch woman dies next to her own grave

2006-11-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

Made me laugh, although maybe inapropriately.

A Dutch woman, who had meticulously planned her own funeral after the death of her husband last year, died next to the grave in Amsterdam where she wanted to be buried, a newspaper reported.

See the full article....

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15507998/from/ET/

Her grave stone should read, "Always Prepared"

A Lion and a Bug

2006-11-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

We had a great night. Ean loved wearing his costume, loved trick or treating and loved handing out candy. Ben didn't care about any of it. We had a Greg, Jeni and Paige over as well as my dad, Shaunah and my little brother Cooper. Jeni made chili, Shaunah made corn bread and salad and I made a cookie type dessert. I didn't get a lot of pictures but Jeni did and I will get some more from her.

Anyway, as I suspected I didn't get any great pictures, but here is what I got...

A Lion and a Bug

(Ean called himself a Lady Bug)

Notice how Ben is leaning AWAY from his brother, he

never knows when he is going to get clobbered.

Ben did not want to wear his mane

A better look at Ean's costume

A Kitty (Paige) and a Bug (what a couple)

Ben and Uncle Cooper

Sorry no Larry costume this year.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T09:35:00.000-08:00

Ean's pumpkin balloon, as close to carving pumpkins as we got this year.

The crab hat, not a costume, a suvenier from the Oregon Aquarium

Wishing everybody a fun and safe Halloween, pray for me to have two cooperative boys tonight. Ben is going to be a Lion and already hasn't wanted to wear his hood, and Ean is a bug and LOVES his costume. We will see, I am not expecting anything great as far as pictures.

We are having people over and will be trick or treating at in our neighborhood. We had a lot of kids last year and I am expecting the same this year. I am excited about that.

The pumpkin balloon and the crab hat!

Not so good day!

2006-10-27T16:06:00.001-07:00

Not so good day!, originally uploaded by jdlwm2.

Click on the picture for more detail.

I was awaken this morning by a walky talky hitting my lip. This is not one of those kids toys this is a real walky talking the kind that takes four, count them four, AA batteries.

Ean was just playing but he has a tendency to throw things that shouldn't be thrown. It hurt bad and now I have a cut inside my lip and it is swollen a little. I freaked out, I threw the walky talky too and then cried for about five minutes.

Then to make it even better he wouldn't apologize. I don't think he comprehends the actual act of apologizing. He eventually did say "sorry" but only because he wanted me to get him strawberry milk.

I also, as you can see, have this humugous pimple that has been invading my face for over a week. It originally was just this big red spot covering the tip of my nose. I put hot compresses on it for three days and finally it came to the surface yesterday. Now it is still full of junk and sticking out. I don't wear makeup, usually, so I have to go to special effort to cover it up and I still feel like it is just sticking out and I look like a 17 year old boy.

My hair is also giving me grief. I am trying to grow my hair out but my bangs are too long to do ANYTHING with so everyday they are pulled back or hanging to the side like limp noodles. My hair is also in a weird place. It is too long AND too short. It sits on my shoulders and annoys me, but it is too long to do real cute. So this is my style, ponytail and two bobby pins. REAL PROFESSIONAL!!!

I also have these wispy things that stick out on each side of my head. It is from my hair being pulled back so much. My hair is "fine" so when given any stress it breaks. It is also falling out.

Let's not even talk about my double chin. I had a great week about a month ago. I went to the gym we pay $60/per month to and got a schedule of classes, I studied it and made myself a schedule of which ones I wanted to go to. One per day, four days a week. I went ONE WEEK! Then I got busy one day or had to stay late at work or whatever. Now I haven't been going and my jeans, frankly everything, is fitting me tight again. AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!

There are a lot of other things to list that bug me every second of every minute of every day but I don't EVEN want to go into those right now, like the boys (Ean), the businesses, the fixer uppers, the employees, the bank account, the clutter, because that could take all night.

I am just having one of THOSE days. Usually when a woman feels like this one of two things is happening and it better not be one of them.

One long comedy sketch...

2006-10-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

I have been watching the new show Studio 60 with Mathew Perry, Amanda Peet and that other guy. Anyway, if you haven't seen the show it is basically the behind the scenes of Saturday Night Live. I can't help but think of my life now as one of their reecurring sketches. It would definitely be funny.

Over the weekend I TRIED to get a picture for their Grammie for her birthday, this is the best I could get. FUNNY!!

Gone are the days of Slug Bug, I Spy, and Look for the Out of State License Plates; we want our MOVIE! FUNNY!!!

Without Brother= HAPPY!

With Brother = NOT HAPPY! FUNNY!

Little Girls Sunglasses- found on the ground outside; "Big Big Motorcycle"- $100 at Costco (Christmas present); Barefoot little BOY, not able to peddle his bike, wearing little girls sunglasses= FUNNY!

Two silly, naked, boys in the tub= FUNNY!

ALL DAY LONG I MISS THEM, ALL EVENING LONG I CAN'T WAIT FOR THEM TO GO TO BED, ALL NIGHT LONG I WISH THEY WOULD GET UP AND CUDDLE ME.

**For you moms (or dads) who sometimes get overwhelmed too, I saw this today on MSN; stories from other mom's who have had "one of those days" ~CLICK HERE~

Playing with Chairs

2006-10-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

For some reason these camping chairs found their way into the house and of course Ean being Ean had to set them up in the living room and play with them.

Ben actually liked it too so it was ok. They looked kind of cute sitting there and watching TV.

BTW- Ben is standing like crazy. He will stand for minutes at a time and even dances if there is music on. He is talking a bunch too. He can say, apple, uh oh, owie, and stop. It is so cute. Here is a really short video (because my card was full) of him saying apple.

I hope that I will get some good pictures this weekend and will post again soon. I made a deal with Jim and we get to go to Chuck E Cheese tonight. I know that doesn't sound like FUN to anyone else BUT, I get to let Ean run a muck, eat dinner and play not have to pick up or clean up a thing or worry about him disturbing anybody or breaking anything. :-) YEAH!!!

The Slideshow

2006-10-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the Slideshow of the Pumpkin Patch

***CLICK HERE***

My Little Pumpkins 2006

2006-10-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch like we did last year. I love going there, this year they had a couple of new things. They added a kids tractor ride and a hay ride. Of course the kids barely cooperated with pictures so I didn't get any good ones together and a very select few apart. I tried to pose Ben in the same places as last year to show how different he is. It is neat to look back and see how much he has changed. It is also sad too, since I won't have that sweet little helpless baby anymore.

I got so many bad pictures it is funny, both of the boys usually give me one or two seconds of posing then never again, it is hilarious to see the different shots of me trying to get TWO good pictures in a row. Check back for more pictures on a slideshow, it will most likely be a COMEDY slideshow because the bloopers are always so much funnier than the real thing.

I tried to post more good ones, but stupid BLOGGER kept giving me an error message. I will post then all on the slideshow.

Our recent Trip

2006-10-06T13:50:00.001-07:00

PICT2584, originally uploaded by jdlwm2.

Last weekend we went down south to visit my family down there. My Dad's brother and his kids live there. We have never really been close until recently, they all came up for a "Family Reunion" in May and so we went down there too.

We didn't have a lot of time there but it was really great to see them and where they live. I am glad we made the reconnection.

I have been super busy (of course) but we plan to get some things done around the house that have been lacking. It has been getting cooler here so I need to change the boy's clothes around and start packing up the summer stuff and pulling out winter stuff. It doesn't seem like much work, but it is.

I have to pack Ean's clothes in a plastic bin organized by size and season to pull our next year for Ben. Then Ben's stuff I have to pack up to give away or there are some favorite things that I will keep for my grandkids. That sounds stupid but I have some very favorite clothes that I just don't WANT to give away. Anyway, all of that has to happen in their room where of course they want to be playing while I do it so there is little room to spread out and they both now want to get into everything.

I also want to get into my office and for the thrid time and over a year after we moved in try to get it organized and useable. As of now it is a storage room and we only go in there to use the computer.

If you want to see more pictures of our trip go to the link below. You might have to copy and paste it. If that is too technical for you, I can email the link.

I will post more later and I even have a video of the horse ride.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55647429@N00/sets/72157594315728907/show/

Ben's Birthday Post

2006-09-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

In my never ending attempt to be Super Mom I am finally posting on Ben's Birthday.

As I type this there are still several things I have to do before I hit the "Publish Post" button, but I am starting this now so I don't have to type later.

We had a fun party at home. Just a few people and not too much fuss. Of course, to me that is not how I felt. We did the party later in the afternoon (4pm) because of nap schedules and it ended up being the perfect time. Ben was really happy, except toward the end but that is normal. He liked opening the presents but wasn't paticularly fond of having to set each one aside to open another one especially when the other babies would start playing with it. He really wasn't impressed with the clothes (but mom was, thanks to those of you who got them).

When he did his cake Dad had to get him started and then he did pretty good. He kept slunching down is his chair so that is why the pictures look weird.

We had a good day and now I can't believe he is not a baby anymore. THANK GOD I have two friends having babies within the next year to delay my baby-ites

I have put together a selection of pictures from the past year, some you may have seen some maybe not. Click on the link to view it.

BEN'S FIRST YEAR

There is also a slideshow from Ben's party.

BEN'S PARTY

The first picture and the one below are professional pictures I had done last Friday. They turned out cute I think.

Where do I start????

2006-09-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

Not to jinks myself but our new nanny started this week. Tuesday to be exact. She is young and seems to be doing good. I will share more at a later time.

I have not been able to catch up. I get one thing done and 5 new things come up. I hope it ends soon.

Ben's birthday party is tomorrow, errr today. I haven't even prepared AND was out of town all day Saturday. I still need to make a menu, shop, decorate, put together activities, print pictures, and that's all BEFORE the party. I haven't even had time to consider that my little baby is turning one and I will not have anymore first birthdays to prepare for. I can see the baby-itess setting in already.

Since we got back from my mom's I haven't hardly used my camera. I did get some pictures of Ean finger painting over last weekend. Also, since I got a new phone recently I have been taking some impromptu pictures with it (see above). Jim was able to get a few pictures from his adventure in babysitting yesterday. He couldn't take the whole day so he called Kristen to come save him and went to work on another house we are fixing up.

I did get their pictures professionally done Friday, they are so cute. Since I have to scan them and fix them and then post them you will have to wait to see them.

The only other news to report is that Jim and I are going to try to start a gym routine. There are four classes a week I plan to attend two of which Jim wants to do too. I am hoping if I like the classes it will motivate me to go. Once I go, I do good, but it is getting off of my lazy BUTT that is the problem.

Hopefully I will feel like posting more later for now I need to start planning and try to get more sleep.

Finger painting fun!!!

Results of Daddy babysitting TWO!

(mostly mascara but some eye shadow too)

nine/eleven

2006-09-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

I know we are all 9/11'd to death but I had to post something, so I thought I would post my own perspective of this day.

I remember when I was young asking my parents where they were when JFK was killed or when Elvis died. It is weird to think someday the boys will be asking me where I was when 9/11 happened. It is just too bad I don't have a more interesting story....

On September 10th, 2001 I had driven up to Sacramento to stay over night for an early morning class the next day. I was staying at a hotel across the street from the Capital building. I set my alarm for 6:15am. My alarm went off the next morning and I turned on the TV to keep my self awake. The first thing I saw was a huge skyscraper on fire. The news was saying that the "World Trade Center" was hit by an airplane. To be honest I didn't even know where the World Trade Center was. After watching for several minutes and hearing the news cast it was all explained to me.
I believe I actually witnessed the second plane run into the other tower. I was shocked and amazed. Until then I had NEVER witnessed any kind of tragedy.
I first called Jim and of course woke him up, then my sister and other members of my family. I was some what feaked out because I was near the Capital but I figured I would be ok since they had already grounded flights. While I got dressed for my class I watched , I remember seeing the buildings fall and not really comprehending how huge this was.
I left and went to the class and there were so many people that didn't show up. They thought it would have been cancelled.
During my lunch break Jim and I decided he would come and join me since neither of us wanted to be alone. He got there just as I was done for the day. Like everyone else in the world I think we were pretty much glued to the TV the whole night.

Looking back now five years later and with so much that has happened in my life, it seems like a long time, but when I think about it more it really is no time at all.

I would love to hear a short version of your 9/11/01 story.

Sick Labor Day

2006-09-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

After a fairly uneventful weekend Jim spent his Labor Day sick in bed. Which means I had the boys. Jim had/has some kind of yucky flu bug you know, the bad one. The boys were ok except Ean had Diarreah and Ben puked three times. Ben also had terrible fits everytime I tried to lay him down to sleep, especially when I tried to put him to bed for night. He cried for an hour and only finally went to sleep laying on my chest with me rubbing his head.

Tomorrow, hopefully, we have someone that is coming to "try out" the nanny job. She is older than most with not a lot of "nanny" experience but A LOT of mom experience. My worry is with the hours and the job she will quickly burn out because she has teenagers and a home of her own and a husband to take care of. We will see, I am trying not to get excited so I don't have the disapointment again.

We have another busy week in front of us, and for some reason I can't sleep. After yesterday I need the sleep, but oh well. Anyway, now I am rambling, I will just post some pics. and say goodnight, or goodmorning, I guess.

*Top right: is taken when Papa took Ean, by themselves, to town one morning. They went to the bank and to the bike shop where Papa showed Ean off to all his friends and the bank tellers and Ean got to try out all the bikes.

* Top left: This is my mom and of course Ben when we went to lunch one day, they had this thing where Ben would "scare" my mom by swinging at her. He thought it was the funniest thing.

* Jordan (niece), Tom and Me, Emily (niece), Ean and Ben at the entrance to the Newport Aquarium, very cool.

* Jordan and Ean "inside" the crab tube. Notice Ean checking out his "little" friend.

* Me, Ben, Ean, Jordan inside the petting room. Ean got to pet a starfish.

*My mom, Emily, Jordan, Ean and Tom at the Sea Lions. Ben didn't make it into this shot since he was in the stroller.

* All of us at the end of the aquarium in a Shark's mouth.

Ok Ok- we're home

2006-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

This was at the Portland airport while we were eating lunch and waiting out our lay-over.

So we got home Tuesday and I have been going crazy ever since. Seven days missing work, seven days plus worth of clothes to unpack. The trip home went amazingly well. There was no problem on the planes and although we had a two hour lay over in Portland the boys did good and liked the running around time. They slept the whole flight home from Portland too.

I have some pictures to share but I don't have the time yet to post all that I want. There are a couple of cute ones that I will post but check back for more later.

I will give you all the scoop this weekend, take care!

These were taken at Olalla Lake only about 10 minutes from my mom's house.

2006-08-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Well we're here!

The plane rides were ok. As good as could be expected with two little ones. We arrived in Fresno plenty early and had to wait two hours to leave. Jim was able to get a pass through security so he sat with us at the gate until we left, thank God! Here are a couple pics at the airport before we left. Ean loved watching the planes and Ben loved crawling around.

Everything was uneventful during the flights. Ean wasn't as impressed as I thought about flying. He did really good dispite the DVD player being dead until the final flight when we were starting to desent and he had to put his seatbelt on. He couldn't see out of the window with his seatbelt on so I let him take it off during the flight. When he had to sit down he threw the biggest fit and screamed as loud as he could.

When we arrived (40 minutes late) my mom was waiting....

We were so tired and I had a huge headache but we were in one piece. We still had an hour and a half drive home. It was great to get here and know we were "home"for a week.

We have had fun so far and we have plans to go to the Aquarium and the beach. Here are some picutres so far, will share more later. Ean just got back from a trip to town with Papa and is clinging to me with dear life.

All Packed

2006-08-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

We are all packed, finally. I always plan and think and plan and think then actually do the packing last minute.

We leave our house tomorrow morning at 10am for an hour drive to the airport to be there 2 hours early, where, when we arrive we will unload two "babies", a double stroller, two carry-on bags (free of liquids and gels and lotions), 5 bags to check, the baby car seat (yes mom, I tried to pack light), and I will stand on the curb while Jim parks the car and comes to save me. We will go in, get checked in, then I will say good-bye to my wonderful husband and he will say good-bye to his dear family. I will then head to security where we will have to strip our shoes send them through the metal detector and I will have to take the kids out of the stroller and break IT down to go through the metal detector, while trying to manage to hold Ben and not let Ean take off. Then we will get all put back together and go to the very end of the airport (most likely) to sit and wait for the plane. Since there are no liquids aloud when you board the plane I can't bring regular milk for Ben (since he is not drinking formula), juice or even water for Ean and I to drink. I bought formula to bring (that is aloud) and will see how that goes, but that doesn't solve the problem for me and Ean. Friggin terrorists!!! Oh, I have a connection flight too.

I am excited to get away from nanny crap, work and life but a little nervous about being completely responsible for both boys 24/7 literally. I am really excited to see my family and for them to see the boys. I know I will miss Jim A LOT too because I always do, he is my sounding block, we check in with each other many times per day and I like that. When you are used to being with someone all the time, it is even that much harder to be gone from them.

I hope he will miss us too. I also hope he enjoys his "vacation" as he plans to try to do some things around the house that are hard to get done with Ean around. The garage has never gotten to be organized and there are still things that haven't been touched since we moved them 11 months ago.

I will try to post some pictures while I am up there since it is so pretty.

The results of Daddy babysitting

2006-08-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

Jim stayed home with the kids yesterday morning while I had to go make Enchladas for a fund raiser. I was gone most of the morning. I had just talked to Jim and said I would be heading home in about an hour, he calls me immediately back, and I qoute, "You need to come home now", I ask "why", "Ean's bleeding, just come home", I ask again, "why", he says "I don't know, just come home" and hangs up the phone.

What else could I do, I gathered up my stuff and left the cleaning of a huge mess to everyone else. As I am almost home, the phone rings. He says, "I may have overeacted". I again ask what happened and as he starts to tell me he remembers that he was right in the middle of changing Ben's poopy diaper when Ean got hurt. So as he goes to hunt down Ben, I tell him I will be home in a minute.

It turns out Ean was trying to get a can of Apple Juice out of the fridge and somehow managed to fall flat on top of it. The cans are littler than a soda can, but the same idea. He had a little cut in his eyebrow and bruises in the shape of a can around his eye. Jim did overeact BUT I was kind of glad he did so I could be a part of Ean's first bleeding incident. Ean didn't even cry that much, Jim said.

After it was all over we noticed that he had the appropriate shirt on.

It says "I do all my own stunts"

Progress

2006-08-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have had tons of calls for the nanny position and have been more picky about who gets an interview. We had our third interviewee today and Jim and I liked her so much we set a time right then to do the second interview tonight. The second interview consists of her coming and visiting at the house with all of us and the kids. We try to be distracted so she can interact with the kids on her own and we sit back and watch. She seemed really good with them and interested in them. We all had a "good feeling" about her.

At one point Jim and Dawn pulled me aside and suggested we have her start tomorrow. Of course that is totally against my nature and I hesitated, but with our present situation I thought what the heck. I gave her a copy of the work agreement, all 10 pages, and told her to look over it and if she felt comfortable that we would like her to come tomorrow and get started with Jackie still here. She can have Jackie's help tomorrow and Thursday and start on her own Friday. Since I am going to Oregon with the kids next week and Dawn made other arrangements she will only work a couple of days next week and then will start on a routine the following.

As not to jinx it, I will wait on the details about her and the picture for a couple of days. I really hope this works out well. I like we have learned some things to look out for and have covered those things very carefully.

I am not relieved yet, and probably won't be for a while. I think I will constantly be waiting for the dreaded phone call saying "I quit". I just want this to work so bad, I know it is better for the kids. Ean has learned so much from having that one on one attention and focus. He sings songs and can do and say so much more than he did, just from these past three weeks.

I have been so terrible about pictures with the camera, I haven't even taken one in weeks. The only picture of the either of the boys is quit a while ago when Ean made a crown with Jackie.

I will try and get better. Ben is doing some major tricks now and I need to get those on video. He can, pull himself up to standing on things, clap, dance, and wave. He is awesome. I can't believe I am already having to plan for his first birthday.

Anyway, I am going to go, I have been fighting a nasty "smokers" cough (no I don't smoke but that is what it sounds like) and I have to take Nyquil so I don't keep my poor husband awake or bug him so much he sleeps downstairs, which he seems to do a lot.

Stolen

2006-08-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Ted and Lisa, (thanks) it is fun to freak out your friends and family.

Click here to have some fun

2006-08-10T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well this week has been interesting so far.

I have been getting calls for the nanny position. Some of the same freaks are calling AGAIN! I have a few good prospects, we did one interview last night and there is one coming to the office today. I will probably going to do a couple more this weekend.

We have to go to a "Celebration of Life" (Funeral) tonight for our dentist. I guess it would sound weird to be close to our dentist, but we kind of are. Our dentist has a real small office, it seems like we are family. It is/was just him and his wife and a receptionist. So when we would go in it is like we have been friends for years. He died last week in a freak accident. He got killed while riding his tractor, we think the tractor rolled on him. Anyway, we are going to this thing tonight for him at their family ranch.

Next week is Jackie's last week plus she wants to take next Friday off so her last day would be Thursday. Her wedding is the 19th so I can't blame her. I am just so freaked because I leave for Oregon on the 22nd with the kids and I have to have someone ready to go on the 28th. Plus I won't be back into town until the 29th, so this new person will be starting work at my house without me or my kids there, just Madison. Soooooo I need to have someone in place by next Wednesday so they can start with Jackie and she can show them the ropes.

I am doing much better emotionally am just trying to do the best I can with this new nanny thing with the limited amount of time I have.

Jim is better too, and for the record I might not have been fair to him in my last post, because he does a good job with the boys and is a great husband and father.

Not good!

2006-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, well I am really sick of all of my posts being so negative. But here it is....

I just got home today about 4pm today. The week was pretty good. My convention was great, great classes, great food, great parties (aahheemm, mixers) great hotel etc. Unfortunately things at home have not been so GREAT.

Jim had a VERY difficult time with the boys, mainly Ean. Since Jim is not generally the disciplinarian Ean threw the biggest fits, beat up his brother and basically destroyed the house while I was gone. Ean lost Jim's car keys three days ago. We had to drain the pond because there were two towels, a bunch of sidewalk chalk, a brush, and maybe the keys in it. Jackie was still here all week and Jim only had them ALL DAY, today until I got home. My brother David came over and helped and so did Shirley and her granddaughter so it wasn't even the whole day. It was very hard for me to hear the tone of Jim's voice when I called and the screams from the background of a fitting two year old.

When Jackie left yesterday she asked Jim to have me call her. He asked if things were ok and she replied with a simple "yes". As of Friday she had completed her first two weeks, a time frame that in the contract gives her OR us the out if things are not working, so we were nervous. Jim immediately called me and I in turn called her, she didn't answer. I tried several more times last night and into this morning with No answer. It ran through our minds the reasons she might want me to call her. It is possible she wanted to thank me for the $100 in wedding gifts we sent her, or to report something about the kids, or to follow up on a prior discussion about some time she needed off this coming week for a doctor appointment. All things were likely and it was not odd for her to want to talk to me since Jim is not the most verbal with her.

She finally called me back this afternoon, she told me that her fiance has two brothers that are going to be coming to live with them and she has to quit working for us because she needs to be home with them. She originally tried to say she was scared to take them places, but when I told her maybe we could make it so she wouldn't have to she told me the family thing. We are again devastated.

Ean and Ben have already grown to love her and she has been doing such a great job with them it kills me to lose her. It is unreal, the luck we have had. I am tempted to hire an agency eventhough the prices are high, to save time. Jackie said she will give us all the time we need and stay on until we find someone, but I don't want to drag this out anymore than necessary since everyday the boys grow closer and closer to her. I guess it will be back to the drawing board come Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I might have a few pictures to postfrom my trip, not sure yet, the bags barely made it in the house. Like I said it was fun but not worth the pain and suffering of the family. Won't be doing that again.

Look for updates, maybe tomorrow.

Going away

2006-08-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

I am leaving today for a convention is San Jose for CAMB (California Association of Mortgage Brokers). It will be fun, but I hate leaving Jim and the kids for that long. Everyone was going to go, but we are too busy for both of us to be gone.

It is going to be fun as it always is, but lonely too. I will be busy and chumming it up with the muckety mucks and going to lavish dinners and hosted parties and staying out late and sleeping in, while Jim works all day, has to take care of the kids, get them fed, bathed, put to bed, then up at the crack of dawn trying to get ready while Ean tears down the house and off to work again.

What am I sad about anyway? LOL

I will be on the computer a little bit but not much so don't expect any posts until Sunday.

Take care and have a GREAT week.

Here is a picture of me and Ean at my office this morning. I brought him down because he always bugs me about going to my office so since I am leaving I thought I would spend a little time with him and bring him to play and bug everyone.

A Ben post

2006-07-31T13:13:00.000-07:00

I was going back and looking at some posts and just realized Ben doesn't get as much post time with pictures as Ean. Ben is at the stage where he doesn't know when to stop moving. Ean will pose and perform so he is easier to take pictures and videos of.

Anyway, this is your fill of Ben for now and I will try to take more pictures of him.

Oh Man!

2006-07-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

We had a late night dinner last night and both of the boys were up by 6am. YIKES! I need some coffee.

We are going to our friends' house today (Greg and Jeni), they are the ones from Green Bay with the little girl, Paige, from the video a couple of weeks back. We have had them over a lot while they were semi-homeless and now that they have their house set up they are repaying the favor. Hopefully we will all get a good nap in before we go, the boys were late to bed too and are grumpy. We love their company and Ean loves to play with Paige, it whould be fun.

Ean and Ben loved seeing Kristen last night, they were both excited. The nice thing about her watching them, on top of them loving her, is they never even care that we are leaving. Ean pratically pushes us out the door. She said she missed them at daycare this week, and she was extremely excited to babysit. I took a picture of her and Ean to print for his photo book.

I have to go grocery shopping today too. Now that we have a nanny and the kids are home it is crucial we have stuff to eat in the house. Usually I don't buy a lot of the "kid" food, but now I have to.

Here are a couple of pics from recent pool play. At first Ean wasn't too sure of the pool, but now he asks to go swimming.

Also, Happy Birthday to Aunt Margie and Lucas too bad we are late, I tried to get het Ean to sing to you but of course he wouldn't cooperate.

Anyway, I have to get some coffee or else I will be in trouble.

Now you know how it feels--

2006-07-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

when you look everyday, and everyday NOTHING- HA! Paybacks for all of you non-posters, revenge is sweet. LOL! Just kidding, I haven't intentionally not posted. So, as my mom would say, "get a nice COLD glass of your favorite drink and settle in" because I have a lot to update on.

SOOOOO...

Jackie started Monday and to get her acclimated with the house I stayed about half of the day until the kids went down for nap. I can't imagine walking into someone's house and having to make it my own for 10 hours a day. Pretty soon she will know my house and probably my kids better than me. She really seems excited and happy, and I think she is going to be wonderful for the kids.

I made a binder for her with all the emergency info. and doctor info. in it, as well as a daily nanny log that she fills out and reports on what they ate, what they did, and if anything was of any concern. Not a lot of paperwork but enough to give us a clear picture of the day. I already like knowing what they did and what they ate since I didn't know that at daycare.

I think I mentioned that she is also watching my friend Dawn's baby, Madison, so she has her hands full. She already seems like she is tweaking the schedule to fit in what needs to be done. For instance, it is very important to me that she spends "circle time" with Ean like they did at daycare to help him learn the basics before he goes to school. Since she is watching two babies that are, although easy babies, a lot of work, she can't devote a lot of time to Ean when they are up. So, she figured out to put the babies down for nap at 11am (which is their time anyway) and spend 20-30 minutes with Ean one-on-one before he goes down for nap at 11:30. Then she will probably spend more time with him after nap too during snack time doing a project, like they did yesterday.

We also found out this week Ean can count to 20. I guess he has known how and just "felt like" showing us, when he was stalling going to bed. I tried to get a video of him during bath time yesterday and this is all I could get him to do after I got the camera.

While I was trying to get the counting on video I actually got a Funniest Home Videos moment too. (see below) Jim thinks I am a mean mom though and didn't think it was funny. Of course we think he is a grumpy old fart.

Since I am not totally comfortable with Jackie yet and I know it is going to take her time to get used to everything, I haven't felt the release I know is coming. It still consumes my thoughts a lot of the day, and I still feel the sadness of leaving daycare and the guilt for making Ean leave his friends. To top it all off, it is going on our 6th day of over 110 degrees, so by 8am it is already 90degrees and almost too hot for her to take them outside. Since she needs to get them on a schedule and get to know their personalities and needs and because of the heat she won't be taking them anywhere yet either. We have a few different fun places for her to take them but she probably won't be able to go until next week. Plus, I have to go to San Jose for Wednesday through Saturday next week and am nervous about not being here to hear the play by plays at the end of each day.

Other than the nanny stuff, we have been super busy trying to find a new person to work in our office. We found someone, and she starts Friday. Hopefully she will be a quick learner and will take a lot a pressure off of me and Jim so we can go out and get new business. We spent last weekend at home mostly, the boys played in the pool, we went to dinner with the Torres' on Saturday night (we had a lot of fun, Sonia) and our friends came over for breakfast (since it was so hot) on Sunday morning with their daughter to swim and play outside.

We don't have much planned this weekend either except dinner on Saturday with Jay and I will be getting ready for my trip.

Her name is Jackie...

2006-07-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

( not a great picture)

WE HAVE A NANNY!!!!!

As you can imagine I am relieved, we signed the work agreement with the nanny last night. Her name is Jackie (as stated previously) and she is very sweet. She starts Monday.

She is real quiet and that is one thing we were worried about with her originally but she has a lot of experience so I am sure she will be fine. She seems real excited too. She is 24 years old and is getting married next month. She will be taking off a week for her honeymoon so that is when I am going to Oregon.

She seems pretty strict about her religion. She is Apostolic, haven't heard of it, neither have I. It is like Pentecostal, she said, but more for the Spanish. I don't mean to sound like she is overbearing, because she never brought it up, but after she showed up four times with a skirt on, we started asking questions. She, as you can see wears only skirts and her hair is REALLY long. She wore it up last night, usually it has been down. She doesn't drink, smoke, go to movies or even dance. The not dancing freaks me out a little, because I love music and to dance and I think that is important, but maybe I am just being too paranoid or picky or something. She is nearly perfect and I guess I am just getting nervous because of the huge change and commitment this is.

The boys' last day at daycare is tomorrow and I know I am going to be emotional. They love it there and Kristen (the helper and our babysitter) loves them so much and Ean loves her a lot. I totally trust and am comfortable with them and if it weren't for the logistics they would be staying there. I keep telling myself that I am doing this for the wrong reasons (money and time) but then have to catch myself and remember how many working parents would love to be able to hire a nanny. I know this is better for them, but I feel horrible.

I am making cupcakes for tomorrow and Kristen is going to babysit on Saturday night. It is going to be unbelievable on Monday to leave home and be to work in literally 3 minutes, instead of an hour. The boys are going to have one person devoting all of her time and energy to them instead of 8-14 other kids and will be able to go on outings and to the park etc. Also, once they get in a routine I am going to put Ean in a couple of extra things that him and I can do together, probably gymnastics and dance. Like I said I KNOW this is the right decision, just right now the unknown future and change is horrible.

I am excited, can you tell?

Also, Ean got into his first MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT this week. See the below picture. He, after being told not to, decide to climb onto Daddy's HOT bike. Jim had just rode it home from work. Thank God it was not hotter from a long ride AND it was just his hand because it could have been a lot worse. Ean cried for over and hour, and ended up sleeping with us half the night. It is healing up fine and by the morning it looked a lot worse than it felt.

BTW- Don't talk crap about my Mexican Nanny! --- Joke, just kidding, hahaha, put down the stakes and daggers.

Ben crawling

2006-07-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ben started crawling last weekend, and it took me until now to have the camera ready. Poor second child.

The sound is all messed up and I didn't edit it, but there you go....

A year of Blogging

2006-07-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

So much has been happening I missed our one year Blogging anniversary. We've come along way since the first post.

I think we have found our nanny. I don't want to jinks anything so I will tell you about her later. I had her some pick up a copy of the work agreement so she could pre-read it before she commits, we meet with her on Wednesday to sign it and if everything goes through she will start Monday the 24th. This week will be sad for me this is the last week at daycare. I have really grown to love the girls and Julie the owner, even the kids that have been there a long time. Jim is right though, life is about change and this change is going to make their lives better.

Yesterday I watched the daughter of the people that moved from Green Bay, (not sure if I mentioned them before). Anyway, Jim sold them a house and we have become friends. Their daughter is about a year younger than Ean, they play really good together. I took a video of them, it is sooo cute!!

Got a video of Ben crawling I will post it soon. So sorry these are so big.

In San Jose

2006-07-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

I am in San Jose today for a meeting.

We met with the final nanny prospect last night and now we are in decision making mode. Hopefully we will have a decision by the end of the weekend. We are finding this one to be tough.

I had to let my secretary go for many reasons so now I have to start looking for an employee for my business. Until then we are stuck in the office to answer phones and deal with salespeople-UUUGGGGHHH!!!

The boys are good, Ben is crawling all over now. I am going to try to get video of him this weekend. Ean has been doing good at daycare and is repeating everything we say. Sometimes when he repeats the WRONG stuff we have to restrain ourselves from laughing because it is so cute. It is so funny when he says "fart", we just laugh :-)

I am so overwhelmed with responsibilities right now, I am going nuts. My mind is thinking and analyzing so many different things I can't concentrate on anything. Hopefully as things get settled, first the nanny, then the million little other things, and the employee issue I can actually relax.

AAAHH- to be on a beach, with the sun on my face, a light breeze in the air, a margarita in my hand, with a beautiful buff young man rubbing my feet, and NOTHING on my mind.

A girl can dream can't she?

Turning around

2006-07-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Things are going better. We did a second interview with one of the girls that we interviewed before and it went well. She passed all of MY tests. The only thing we didn't like was that she is real quiet and kind of shy. The more we think about it though that might be kind of good. There is another girl coming Tuesday night and we will make a decision from there.

The below video is by request for Jim.

Awful, Awful night

2006-07-06T09:55:00.000-07:00

After over 2 weeks of searching and interviewing and re-interviewing and worrying about finding the "right" one, we found our nanny. So I spent all day typing an agreement which spells out all her responsibilities, rights and duties, and her and her husband came over last night to sign it.

Before I can get into explaining and going through this 9 page document, her husband pipes up and says, "I guess we should tell you what we found out today", and she says, "OH yeah, I'm pregnant".

BOOM!!!!

We were shocked. During the interview process she asked if it would be ok if sometime in the future she got pregnant. We said sure, because in the furture the kids would be that much older and she would be all in a schedule and everything would be fine. But now, she is going to be pregnant, have morning sickness and then be all big and tired and still have to take care of little kids. I DON'T THINK SO!

She will not have bonded with us and the kids enough to have any loyalty and the first time she thinks her or her newborn (if it lasted that long) is in jeopardy she would be gone. Then where would we be?

I am just so disgusted, it turns out this whole time she has been interviewing she has known that she "could" be pregnant, since she missed her period THREE WEEKS AGO.

So, now I am almost starting over. I have a couple of people that I had already inteviewed and they didn't make the original cut, but now they aren't looking so bad. One is coming over tonight and the other I am going to call for Tuesday night.

I have to find somebody soon, I already gave notice at daycare.

Where to start?

2006-07-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

Ok- so this week has been nuts...

First, since Ean was a good boy last week (oops not aloud to refer to him as "a good boy" any more, I'll explain later), we went for a bus ride last weekend. He really loved it. We drove to the bus stop near our house waited in the car since it was 100 degrees + and when the bus got close we jumped out on caught the bus. It was $.75 for each for us and nothing for the kids. So you could call it cheap entertainment. Jim was sooooooo grumpy when we were going because it was "too hot". I tried not to make them go but when I asked Ean if he wanted to ride the bus with Mommy he said, "daddy too?", "Bendy too?", so they had to go. I think also Jim thought the bus would be filled with low lifes and gross people, but it wasn't. I did feel weird climbing out of our $40,000 car and getting into a bus in front of people that the bus is their ONLY form of transportation. We rode the bus in a loop, from Mooney to downtown and all the way back it took about an hour. We had to stop twice and wait for 8-10 mintues so the bus driver could catch up on her time. She (the bus driver) even let Ean pull the cord that tells her to stop a few times when we were waiting. We are going again tomorrow as another reward for not biting.

The nanny thing is winding down. We have pulled the ad out. I have taken over 40 calls, interviewed about 16 people in person and now we are down to two possibles and doing second interviews. The second interview is more just a time for them to come over and play and interact with the boys with our supervision.

Last night one of them came over, her name is Alice and she reminds me so much of my friend Laura. She has a lot of experience and the only thing going against her is the fact that she is going to school and will be done in 1 1/2 years, after which she will move on to teaching kindergarten. I was wanting to find someone that didn't have plans to leave and wanted to make nannying her carreer, but Alice did great last night. We are looking for the perfect balance of personality, experience, cleaning skills, love for kids, and love for the outdoors. The girl that is coming tomorrow, Lisa, seems really good too, my concern with her is her true love for the outdoors and some medical issues.

I am really picky and if they just rub me the wrong way no matter how good she is, they're out.

Ok-explaining the "a good boy" thing. Last night Jim and Ean were playing and all of a sudden Jim did something and Ean said "BAD BOY". I DO NOT like that and I immediately called Julie (the daycare lady) to see if she has heard the girls (her helpers) or the other kids say that, because I know Jim and I don't. She was shocked too and said she would never allow that and suggested that because we say he is a "good boy" or that he "was good" he might have connected that to the opposite (bad) and put it together. Just as I was about to argue with her that my kid was not THAT SMART, Jim asked him who taught him that and he said "Ronin". Ronin is a kid that used to go to the daycare but quit over 8 months ago, in fact, Ben took his spot when he left. Julie was amazed, as was I, that Ean would remember a kid that he hadn't seen or even heard the name in over 8 months. SOOOOOOO, maybe he did connect the the good and bad boy. Now we are saying he "did good", instead of he "was good". OH the details!!!

Since the boys (all three) are taking naps I am going to try and watch some TV, in peace and quiet. That might not make sense to you, but with a two year whose vocabulary is growing by the mili-second there is very little quiet. And, I know it is only going to get worse.

Also, I have been wanting to make another picture show but I am out of ideas. So any suggestions.

By the way, Kari, Ean wants Lucas to know he misses him. He was feeding him Dorritos.

More Interviews!

2006-06-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note before i go to pick up Ean. I say Ean because Ben is home sick today, fever and throwing up YUCK!

We are getting a HUGE response from this nanny thing, it is taking a lot of my time BUT, I have some real good possibles.

We took Ean on a ride on the city bus this weekend as a reward for not biting (his request) and all he can talk about is "ride bus" now, so we have an addittional reward for beeing good at daycare. I took some pictures and will post later.

Got to go, the phone is ringing AGAIN!!!!!

Interviews

2006-06-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

We finally broker down and placed a classified ad for a nanny. I have been messing around with online sites for abaout a month and have gotten no where.

The response has been huge!! If the people were worth a darn I started setting interviews for this weekend. It ends up we have interviews all day today and from 9am until 6pm tomorrow. I know it is a lot to interview but I am finding myself very picky in the kind of person we want "raising" our kids.

I am waiting for one right now that, so far, is not impressing me seeing that she is 13 minutes late.

Everything is fine, Jim and I are going to try and have a date tonight and sometime in between interviews I promised Ean we would ride the bus today. I know it is weird but he loves buses and big trucks etc.

Ben is crying now so I am going to go and probably call this gal to see if she is coming.

Have a great weekend will try to snap some pictures to post.

Happy Father's Day!

2006-06-18T10:28:00.000-07:00

To all of the dad's that look at this blog, Happy Father's Day!!

We made this video for my Step-dad Allen. Allen is Papa to the boys and Ean loves him very much.

He also loves his "ampa Moore" a lot too.

We love you both especially, Happy Grandpa and Papa's Day!!!

For Fun

2006-06-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

( Click on the picture to make it bigger)

If you take a look at the above picture , let me tell you ... it is not animated. Your eyes are making it move. To test this, stare at one spot for a couple seconds and everyt hing will stop moving. Or look at the black center of each circle and it will stop moving. But move your eyes to the next black center and the previous will move after you take your eyes away from it.... Weird

Our Trip to the Zoo

2006-06-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I think I told you that we went to the Zoo. I hadn't been there in a long time and so Ean had never been. We have been talking about taking him but Ben wouldn't enjoy so we haven't. kari brought up the idea when she was here so we went. It was great. Ean loved it and we only got into a couple of fights, but since he didn't get his nap that was pretty good.

Anyway, we took a bunch of pictures so I linked it to a slidshow. But I had to Post my favorite picture.

Enjoy!

Been runnin'

2006-06-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

Not much to report.

Jim got back from Oregon Monday so I had to leave work early to get him, then he was delayed two hours.

I was in San Jose yesterday for a meeting. Jim text me during the day and told me Ean bit his gal pal, BAD. Apparently he drew blood. I immediately felt guilty. After he went through that biting streak, I had been taking him to the park consistently, with the visitors and graduations, and weddings etc, we haven't been in two weeks at least. Plus, the last time we did go, sucked because work interfered and Jim and I were in high stress mode and snapped at each other and Ean. He really cherishes that time and without it, he acts up.

We went to the park tonight and it was great. I enjoy it too, I get to run around with him and have my undivided attention on him with no cell phones or schedules or stress. He gets to play outside and get his adrenaline running, by going down big slides. We are going to get back into the habit of going.

I can't believe it is going to be Thursday already. I think we might take Ean to see Cars this weekend his first movie theater movie, should be interesting.

It is weird without Tom here, we miss him. We did find a NICE (sarcastic) surprise in his room though: a HUGE pink stain on the carpet, looks like from a cherry ICEE. :-/

I made another slideshow, hope you like it.

if the above doesn't show up- --CLICK HERE--

For Jim!

2006-06-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

or click on the link below

Click here for a new Missing Daddy video

So far, so good

2006-06-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

The weekend has just started but we are doing ok so far.

Yesterday we slept late and that was ok because we all needed it. We got up and got dressed and headed off to work without incident. Today we had to get up and go show a house but now we are home resting up to go to the mall then to go gets haircuts. We will probably just hang out at home tonight and tomorrow all I have to do is go to a meeting in the afternoon.

The guys got up to Oregon ok and are enjoying the peace I think.

We went to the zoo last week so I will post those pictures tomorrow probably, during nap. Hope everyone is ok too. Have a wonderful weekend.

Here are a couple more pictures of Tom's Graduation.

The first one is of them walking in. (he is waving, if you couldn't tell which one is him)

The second is of Tom and his good friend Nathan.

They're Off

2006-06-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Jim and Tom just pulled away on their way to Oregon.

Not without tears in all eyes unfortunately. Tom seemed especially upset when hugging Ean.

Kari, Lucas and Valerie left today too so Ean will probably be freaking out tomorrow when he realizes everyone is gone. He has been asking already for Kari and Lushas. He really will be asking for Jim and Tom too. He was ok letting them go but he will wonder where they are when they still aren't back tomorrow.

This will be on one hand a nice quiet weekend but stressful too. It is extremely difficult without Jim and I do not like to be the one staying home. I even have thought about driving up there, eventhough I know it is ridiculous to think about.

Anyway, pray the boys to have a safe and uneventful trip and I will post more tomorrow, I have to get Ean up and to his own bed the first time in a week. Or..... maybe he will just sleep with me.

Having a good time.

2006-06-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Tom's graduation and then Friday they (Jim and Tom) are off to Oregon. Jim will be flying back Monday then I have to go to San Jose for a meeting on Tuesday.

Our family from Georgia, Kari and Lucas and Valerie, are here and they are great. Kari and Lucas are staying with us so that is awesome, I just wish I could have spent more time with them and didn't have to work. Tomorrow we are going to do SOMETHING, she has just been hanging out at the house during the day so I am going to take them to do whatever they want. Not sure what yet.

This past weekend we had Kristen's wedding (Jim's niece) and then Sunday Tom's grad. party and a bunch of family visiting. That is enough parties for me for a while. WOW, don't get me wrong, I do love people in the house and visiting but I am looking forward to an uneventful weekend. Not that this weekend is going to be a piece of cake, by myself with the boys. but at least I will have no obligations to anyone else.

The boys have been good and we are still struggling with the nanny/daycare thing, but they have been really healthy and happy. Ben's two bottom teeth are just getting ready to surface and he a little cranky at times but not bad. Ean is as wild as ever but that is a good thing.

I took so many pictures over the past week it is hard to choose which to post here are some of my favorites:

I hope it is ok to link them to a slide show.... if not then you don't have to look. LOL!

A Little Better

2006-05-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

It was so wonderful to have the reunion Saturday. I don't even remember all of us getting together if we ever have. There was even my dad's cousin form Modesto here. It was wonderful. Ean wasn't feeling so hot but he did ok until the evening.

I guess I was more stressed about it than I thought because today I feel more relieved. I also had an event to go to in Lakewood (4 hours away) on Sunday and didn't finally get my dress for it until Saturday night (because it had to be hemmed). So that probably didn't help either.

I have been taking a lot of pictures and since I haven't posted there are a lot to share so here is the link to the slideshow, hope you enjoy.

We are doing pretty good. Ben is still not crawling or even scooting but he is getting stronger on his tummy so it could be anyday. Ean is doing really good, he has not had any behavior problems at daycare (like fit throwing and biting), so the park thing seems to be helping.

Jim's niece Kari and her son Lucas and his sister in law Valerie are coming Thursday and I am sooooo excited. I first met Kari when we went to Georgia, she was barely pregnant and then I got pregnant right after that. We keep up and know eachother very well from our blogs and I am extremely excited to see Kari and meet Lucas.

Just wanted to let you all know that we are better and everything is ok.

See our May Slideshow

STRESSED

2006-05-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am a totally stress case this week.

I have pretty much decided we need to hire a nanny. My daycare moved across town about 2 months ago, so now I have to drive two hours a day taking and picking the boys up from day care. Not to mention the amount of gas ($100 just this week). With the amount I pay in daycare itself it will be the same money and save me time. However, it scares me to death to trust someone alone with my kids all day everyday while I am not there. We will probably install cameras but that won't catch everything. I also LOVE my daycare. I love the girls who run it and the owner and Ean loves the kids and it is a wonderful environment for them. I don't want to deprive him of the social interaction but I know the one on one time is huge too. I am totally stressing about that.

Also, my secretary has been out on vacation all week. She doesn't do a huge amount of stuff, but she is here and answers the phones etc. Since Jim is gone too, (that's another thing) I have to time my trips to the bathroom and hope I don't miss a call or someone doesn't woder in while I am "indisposed". She will be back Monday, and then there are things her and I have to talk about because things are not being done how they should.

In a week we are having a huge Family Reunion at MY house for my dad's side of the family. About 30 people will be there and I still haven't planned all my food and shopping lists for it. And Jim hasn't been able to get the yard and the garage cleaned so it looks nice. Also, I need to get Tom's Grad. invites out, which I don't have all the addresses and such. Also, planning for his graduation party.

Jim had surgery on Tuesday (if you don't know why, you don't want to know why), and he has been off his feet all week. So that means mom/me gets the boys up, gets them fed and dressed and out the door with snacks and bottles put together and then picks them up and makes dinner and feeds the little one his dinner while trying to keep the big one out of trouble and then showers and/or baths them and gets them in bed. All of this while trying to give Jim the attention and things he needs and getting myself ready and unready. He is helping as he can and even made dinner last night.

Him being down, also has made me have to handle his side of the business. Fielding phone calls, problems, concerns, issues etc.

My workload is already heavy, with the business management stuff and the the loans I can barely do it all. Actually I can't do it all, but that is all I have to say about that until I can talk to my business partner.

DISCLAIMER- Everything I am stressed about, I have committed to do so if any of the above has to do with you, it is not personal AND I don't mind doing it. This is my BLOG and I can bitch and complain if I want and it is not about anyone but myself.

Anyway, If you have wondered why I have been so short with my psts that is why, my computer time is severely limited and I don't like that either.

UUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Ok just had to get that out.

Mom Salary

2006-05-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry I haven't posted, in fact I don't have time to be doing this now but I was just sent this site and every mom has to try it.

Mom Salary

It figures what your salary should be doing all the jobs you do as a mom. Even us working mom's have a section.

Mine came to $151, 285 a year, just for my mom job. Check it out and tell me (by commenting) what you are worth.

Make sure to print your check and show your husbands' how much you are saving him.