HAPPY NEW YEAR...

...I hope! Here's hoping everyone had a good holiday season and looking forward to a great new year! Not starting out great for us so far, but it's got to look up from here. We got broken into again last night. They broke the garage door and the door to the house. Not sure where else there is damage. Stole tools again. Really mad! Time to file an insurance claim. They also took our hardwood flooring which was sitting in my office waiting to be laid. GRRR! Not sure which part is most frustrating to Dave, but for me it's the repairs that we can't afford to make and then the replacement of the stolen items...I guess for me it's about the money. Of course, there is the lack of security feeling now. Hope that will return when we move into the house and have security cameras up and Shayna living there. Yeah...Shayna's being there would help a lot! Maybe I'll work on the fence tomorrow.

On the upside, we seem to past our month of colds and fevers (I hope) and on the mend. With a little bit of luck, we should be happy and healthy in our own new house soon.

A Year in Review!

So, I think I have finally hit the December peak! Let's recap...I finally got my CD out there; I spoke at the conference at Asilomar; I worked with a group of moms and we adopted a family; performed in the choir's winter concert; wrapped up school and spearheaded the Preschool's Teacher Appreciate December Event. Well, yep...that wraps up December. Of course, we still have Christmas with the in-laws coming, but that's not a big to-do for me. I just need to bring a little something and call it done. :)

So, now the whole recap:
January--My baby was still a baby back then and Jayden was a sweet at 3 could be. No major events.
February--Shayna learned it's not as much fun to chase cats as she thought it was. Didn't know what to do with it once she caught it!
March--Lots of visits from Michelle, Katie and Wes to celebrate MIL's 50th B-day.
April--Got some beautiful pics of the kids. Jayden peed all over the world when we finally said goodbye to diapers for real. Took the whole month, but he finally decided to do all his business in the potty! HURRAY!
May--House got broken into AGAIN and I was sad to find out that my dear friend was moving away. Spent a pleasant Mother's Day on the beach though, that was nice! Ellie is growing up too fast! Wants her hair combed and clips put in!
June--High school drama club reunion put a lift on things. I had a good time. My kids rediscovered the fun of the Exersaucer! HOW ridiculous!
July--Happy Birthday Jayden! My he seems too little to be four! Dad had his appendix out. That was a shocker!
August--Joint birthday party for the kids. Pirate themed...had a good time! Jayden and the boy next door became playmates. They really enjoy spending time with eachother. Gonna miss that when (if) we move back home!
September--Happy Birthday Eliana! Back to school for everyone! Jayden moved up to the Chavarim class and Eliana gets her first adventure in school in the Little Stars. I also went back to Notre Dame to teach just one class. Been quite an adventure for all of us!
October--Halloween! The kids were warm in their costumes! Jayden was a dinosaur and Eliana was an adorable Tigger!
November--Mom had angioplasty. Thanksgiving at my parents' house because...well you know!
December--not home yet, but soon!

Been a busy year! Hope you all have a good year and a relaxing holiday season!

Blogger's Time-Out!

Ok...it's quiet enough that I feel secure in taking some time out to update my blog and read others'. Only problem now, is where to begin?!

Ok...me first. I have been super busy since Thanksgiving (which went nicely) at my parents' house. Dave actually thinks now we should be in our house by the end of the year. I can only hope he is right, but I am not holding my breath. If it takes another month, I would be neither disappointed nor surprised. But, the week after T-day, I worked pretty hard to prepare my presentation at the math teachers' conference in Asilomar. It went very well. I had a classroom with about 35 desks that was totally filled by3:10. With 20 minutes to go before start-time, I ended up sending people down the hall to get chairs. I think I had about 50 people in there by the time I started the presentation and then a few more drifted in after that! It was a pretty full house! People LOVED my songs and I sold over 20 CD's! AMAZING!

After Asilomar, I spent the past week helping my mom prepare for the Chanukah party for the congregation. I also found out that we bought a building! YAY! Our little congregation is going to have a home! It's pretty exciting news for the community because the congregation has been around for over 30 years and this is the first time they have been able to secure their own establishment. I think it will go far to tying down roots and getting the younger members more involved. This is especially good for me because I want my kids to get a Jewish education and now we have a place to associate with and not just a group of people.

Anyway, the party was last night and went pretty well. I was tired when I got home though and it was only 9:30!! All in all, it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks. Not that I expect it be much less busy in the upcoming couple of weeks....especially if Dave is right and we are moving home soon!

I am working with some other moms and we have adopted a family for Christmas. I am spearheading this thing (not that I really know what I am doing, but....) and I need to figure out how to divvy up the purchasing. Probably ought to get on that today! Also, I am on the committee for teacher appreciation at the kids' preschool and this month is my month! YIKES!

Speaking of preschool...Jayden has decided he no longer wants to go to school. When I talked to him the other day, he told me that they (I think he decided it was the teachers and not the kids) always take his toys away. I think there is probably more going on here that I don't recognize because I don't speak "4". But, I hope we can figure it out soon. He's been different at home too. He always has an argument about everything I want him to do. He negotiates everything to DEATH! I am kind of at my wits' end with it. I fear giving in because it will add fuel to the fire, but I don't want to end up with a kid who hates me or worse--me hating him! I need help! The advice his teachers gave me is not really helpful because they said, "Give him power in the small things." Well, I do. "Do you want peas or carrots?" is not a big deal for me, but when he comes back with "I am not eating any vegetables!" I can't do much about that. Taking toys away seems unfair to Eliana, but then it wasn't working anyway.

Ok...clearly I had more to say about Jayden than anything else! HELP!! I need an expert on age 4!!

Where have I been??

No time to update now, but here's a link to Dave's blog (which he doesn't use much) and there are some pics of the kids there.

http://www.cyberprose.com/

Good and bad

So, Mom is home and very tired. She is recovering and feels like she will be up and about by next week. Here's to hoping all goes well.

And now the part where I need some help. Jayden is very into "NO" and "NEVER". Does anyone else have to deal with "I'm never going to eat blah-de-blah ever again" or "I'm never going to wear that shirt ever" or "I'm never going to share with so-and-so (usually Ellie goes in there)" ?

PLEASE advise! His "no"'s and "never"'s are driving me insane!!

Mom is...

...doing fine. She had the angioplasty this morning and seems to be doing well, now. The expectation is for her to come home tomorrow. She expects to be released between 9 and 12, so it all sounds good.

Eliana had some surprises in store today. She decided that she needed to go potty AND SHE DID--ALL BY HERSELF! She took herself off to the toilet, pulled down her pants, took off her diaper and went. AWESOME! But, the best part of this story is not that she did this all by herself when I picked her up from school today, but that she did it again this evening after dinner! In fact, this time, she wouldn't get down off the potty until I suggested that she wear big girl panties until bedtime! I don't really expect her to keep them dry, but it would be totally awesome if she did!

I'll take that good with the bad any day of the week! :)

Halloween was....

...fun. Jayden dressed up as a dinosaur again. I wanted Ellie to wear either Jayden or Kayleigh's old dinosaur costumes and they could be twins, but neither Daniela nor I could find the old costume. Bummer. So, Ellie was Tigger. Dave bought a Tigger costume for something like five bucks at Target when Jayden was a year old. He already had a costume AND wouldn't fit into the Tigger for another year, but Dave bought it anyway. In my frantic search through the millions of boxes at our house, I found it. Funny that I found that one and not the dinosaur....hmmm.

Anyway, Jayden was a dinosaur, Eliana was Tigger, Dave was a clown, and his mom was a pirate. Me...I had no costume yet again. Maybe I'll put myself first one of these years and I'll have a costume, too. BUT....we all schlepped over to Grandma Tess's house to trick-or-treat in Willow Glen. The kids got TONS of candy and some other cute little things too. They had a wonderful time. That's all that matters.

Today, in the aftermath, my mom went in to the dr for a stress test on her heart. She failed. I am waiting news now on the angiogram and potential angioplasty. Fingers crossed on good outcomes!

House news: We got the house measured for carpet today...we WAY underbudgeted for flooring. There will be more compromises in the near future. The drywall guy is meeting Dave at the house on Saturday to re-bid the job. Prices for drywall are only about half of what they were when he bid the first time. We are hoping to save big time here to compensate for the carpeting blunder. The roofer is coming out on Sunday to finish up our last bit of roofing issue. The insulation guys are coming out on Wednesday. YES!!! I SAID THEY ARE ACTUALLY COMING OUT TO PUT IN THE INSULATION! FINALLY!!!

I estimate another 6 weeks or so before we can move home. I hope everyone can hang in that long for a peaceful extraction of all of us from my parents' overflowing house. :)

I picked up a worm today.

I was playing with the kids outside today and Ellie stopped in a panic on the sidewalk while following Shivam and Jayden into Shivam's yard. (Shivam is Jayden's little friend next door.) I wasn't sure why she stopped and was so paranoid until I saw the worm wiggling in the middle of the sidewalk. I don't think she ever saw an earthworm before which might explain the response. But, when I stooped down to look at it, the boys came over too. WE talked about why it was there and why it was wiggling around. Then, I told the kids that the worm needed to get back into the dirt or it would die. So, I picked it up and flung it into the grass (gently of course). We all gathered around it to watch it squirm it's way into safety. The kids were totally fascinated albeit worried that the worm would bite me or something when I picked it up. They all backed up and got all panicky like it was dangerous...I had to try really hard not to laugh.

Other news....house is moving along but in slo-mo. We might be home by the end of November, but no turkey will be served. Things just take too long. :( Day number 585.

567 Days down...

...and only 46 more days to Thanksgiving. I hope we make it! :)

It seems that the end is in sight though. Dave said he is going to take Tuesday off to work on the house with Uncle Gary and his cousin Travis to finish up some of the major things he needs to do to pass the inspection. So, with a whole dang lot of luck, he will manage to get another inspection this week and we will pass and be done. That means it's time to get the insulation guys in; then drywall; paint, tile, and flooring! :) I will be going to Southern Lumber this week to order vanities, countertops, and medicine cabinets for the bathrooms. They will take 2-3 weeks to come in, so we should get them right on time to put them in. I just hope the rest of it goes as planned.

FINGERS CROSSED! PRAYERS WELCOME!

PROGRESS!!!

Yay!! I am happy to finally report progress on our house!! Dave FINALLY finished all the menial tasks that needed to be done before he could call for an inspection. Hallelujah! The city made him write (by hand) a letter explaining why he needed to extend our permit AGAIN and this time they told him he had to have an inspection by the end of this month. PRESSURE!!! He managed to finish this weekend so he could get the inspector to come this week. I am so excited by this progress that I can hardly contain it!

I went out shopping yesterday to see what fixtures I like and I am ready to purchase vanities for all three bathrooms as well as the countertop/sinks. I am not terribly particular about the toilet upstairs, but I would like it to match the downstairs ones. I know what faucets I want, and I am ready to purchase paint and carpet. I think all that is left of great import is doors and a railing. YAYAYAYAY!!! A little more work and a few more weeks and we might actually be moving back home! Dave will be needing to call the insulation and drywall people this week as soon as he knows when the inspection will happen and if he passes, we can get those guys in to get the work done! :)

Yet another birthday...

...gone by. Today was my 35th birthday. Not sure why 35 seems so significant. I guess it's that age when the doctors think pregnancy, calcium intake, and mammography suddenly become so noticeable. To me, I don't feel any older or different than I did 20 years ago. Well, except for the obviously largerness of me. I do feel significantly larger than I did then.

And, I feel more in control of my emotions than back then too. Just the other day (Friday to be exact), I was shopping for work pants (I've gained yet another dress-size since I last worked) with my mom. While I was in the dressing room trying on about a gazillion different things, another woman came back to try something on. The saleswoman said, "Would you like to try those on, Young Lady? Right here, Honey."

Now I am not one to take kindly to "Honey" and "Sweetie" but, this woman takes the cake! She put on the nastiest tone I have ever heard someone use in a clothing store to an older saleswoman and exclaimed, "I am NOT a young lady and I don't like to be called Honey! I don't want to be humored. I just want to try these on!" Now these words all on their own are not too bad, but with the nasty tone, they were SOOOOO RUDE!

My mom and I looked at each other in total shock and disbelief. But, instead of ignoring the woman's rudeness and letting it go, my mom pipes in with, "She was just trying to be nice." Now, she said it in a very non-challenging tone with just a hint of "calm down" in there. The woman shouts (shouting now), "Shut up and mind your own fucking business, you Brainless Twit! You have no idea what my problems are so just butt out. Stupid fucking brainless twit!"

I chose to maintain my silence, but the giggles would not be suppressed...mom and I had a nice laugh over that. I guess I have learned some humor in the last 20 years. I recall a time I would have responded to her and there would have been no point but I would have argued until I got myself all worked up into a dither. Of course, I would have said, "At least you got two things right. I have no idea what your problems are (not that I care) and you are certainly not a lady--young or otherwise!"

I guess the big benefit to having a brain and a blog, is that I get to have the last word anyway! Yay for me! :) Maybe I haven't matured as much as I thought HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D

Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Miss!

Today is Eliana's birthday. We had a pretty fun day hanging out with my brother. Since it was a non-work day, Dave took the opportunity to work on our house. I hope he gets done with his stuff soon....he keeps telling me just a couple more days but no matter how many days he works, there is still a couple more days worth of work. It's very frustrating! Anyway, he was working on the house, so Jeff and I decided to take a trip to Ikea. Jayden was super excited because he was finally able to play in the kids area. Last time we went, he wasn't potty-trained yet. So he had a great time there. Eliana got to go shopping with Jeff and me. We looked mostly at chairs and wall units...something we are both interested in. However, we found the kitchen tables and household accessories interesting too. Jeff ended up buying plates, glasses, and cutlery since he had nothing to put in the kitchen. He still needs major necessities like pots, pans, cookware in general, actually! But, at least he can eat his take-out on real plates! :)

We wrapped up the day with a simple dinner of yummy hamburgers and cupcakes. Ellie and Jayden enjoyed those all over their little faces. Good reason for their bath right now! Well, that and the fact that their first day of school is tomorrow. I'm pretty excited for Jayden. He will be in the big-kids class. I hope he gets really into learning his letters and numbers and wants to start really writing them and putting sounds together for reading. Eliana is going to start the itty-bitty kids class tomorrow. I hope she loves being there and doing art and playing with other kids her age. I have no academic expectations for her--just for a pure love of learning.

As for me, I have a busy week ahead! Tomorrow I return again to the classroom. I am teaching just one class of Honors Geometry at Notre Dame High. I am blessed that the class is 7:50-8:30AM M-Th...well Thursday is a block day so class ends at 9:15 but that is really close to 8:30 :) Anyway, I have my class; then I have to go to the kids school to see them off to class; pick them up at noon. Wednesday I only have my class then we have play-time. Thursday though, I have my class, then pick the kids up at noon, then I have my first Hebrew High class that night. I have never taught Hebrew High. Basically it's religious school for high school kids...but I have to teach a Jewish ethics class...not my strong suit! Ok that sounds bad....I am a very ethical person, just not sure how strong I am at teaching it. I hope mostly to be a facilitator and let the kids run the class. We'll see! Anyway, the rest of the week (Friday) the kids are in school again on Friday. Then Jayden has a b-day party to go to on Saturday morning (the boy's birthday is today) and Eliana has a party in the afternoon on Saturday (that little girl's birthday is today too)--popular birthday day! :) And lastly, Sunday...we get to relax...until...we go to the Back To School BBQ for the kids' preschool! Like I said...busy week! Well...best get it started with getting the kids out of the bath and ready for bed. :-)

Walk with God, Uncle Rick

Yesterday was Uncle Rick's memorial service and the family celebration of life. Some might find it difficult to celebrate the life of one who was so addicted to alcohol that even his closest family members felt distant. But, Uncle Rick was a happy soul with a loving heart and a smile that wouldn't quit. We had a wonderful day with family and friends sharing stories of Rick and things we remember best. I chose not to share my story of Shayna and Jessie barking their little fool heads off at him and the eventual bite Shayna blessed his hand with, but it was nice to hear other stories.
I think the best part of the day was when we hooked up with Dave's brother Wes over the internet with the webcam. He is stationed in Korea and couldn't make it out for the funeral. He was overjoyed to see us all together and shared with us the one thing he remembers best about Uncle Rick. They used to play their guitars and sing together. The craziest song ever....it's about a bird and his pecker....and his broken pecker....don't know the song? Me either really, but it was a favorite of Uncle Rick's and he used to play it any time he pulled out his guitar. So, anyway, Wes pulls out his guitar and finally (after much cajoling) agrees to sing it for Rick's daughters Sonya and Kristie. Well, EVERYONE gathered around for this performance and only AFTER Wes sang for us, did anyone tell him that the room was PACKED! Poor Wes...pretty sure he was embarrassed by the shear number of people listening to him. But, he was a good sport about it.

Toast to you, Uncle Rick! You are loved and missed by family and friends. May your soul rest peacefully in a place happier than you were on earth.

So much happening...

and yet surprisingly little to say.

Dave is getting used to his new car. I can't say he is particularly excited about it. Perhaps it's the timing (he wasn't ready), or maybe the outrageous sum of money that we can't afford, or I suppose it could be that he really loved his truck; but, in any case, he is not nearly as excited as one should be when they purchase their very first brand new car. Honestly, I think I am more excited about it than he is.

Jayden is challenging me daily. I need to hunt up a book on 4-yr-old behaviour so I can figure out what makes his little head tick. I am not good with the little ones...I hope when they are teenagers I will have a better handle on how to deal with them.

Eliana is an angel. She is such a happy child it makes me smile to just think of her. Which is good because I am going to start school next week and I will miss them both terribly while we all adjust to new schedules! Plus, I am going to be gone to LA next week for a couple of days while I record my songs on CD. I am pretty excited and nervous all at the same time! It's a whole new world for me...the music biz! More info on that next week.

Thank you ...

to everyone who was able to join us in our big birthday celebration today. Jayden and Eliana have been bouncing off the walls all afternoon from the excitement of having so many friends visit and spend the day with us. The pirate cake, decor, and treasure chests only added to their excitement. And spending the day in the pool with friends was too much fun for words. Ellie sat with my mom in the rocking chair at bedtime talking non-stop about the rocket ship that they launched up on the roof. Ok...so you can actually see the little plastic toy rocket sitting on the awning from the bedroom window, but still, she talked about swimming with everyone and all the fun they had. Jayden talked about all the fun he had swimming with his friends in the pool and about his pirate birthday. He must have said "Thank you for my really great Pirate Birthday party that I shared with Ellie" to Dave and me a hundred times since everyone left today.

We played three of the games that Jayden got for his birthday today. He wasn't crazy about Crocodile dentist because he didn't want to get bit and apparently he lost one of the bean bags from his Tic-Tac-Toe bean bag game already. I will have to hunt that up before the trash goes out. But, he LOVED the Diego numbers matching game that he got. He is even learning to be a little graceful about not winning. I hope he learns that soon!

All in all, it has been a very exciting day. Not all of the excitement was for the kids though. Dave and I left the kids with my parents for a couple of hours while we went car shopping. Yes, I said cars. Dave's truck broke-down AGAIN! He thinks he blew a head gasket. If that's the case, he is not getting it fixed! Plus, as I said in a previous post, I am not fixing that POS again! I was rather hoping it would wait until the house was done to announce its demise, though. In any case, Dave was hoping for a used Prius with carpool stickers. Since those are so rare these days and outrageously pricey for the ones you can find, we looked at the new Prius' today. I really liked what I saw! I think what we save in gas money from his 4Runner will pay most of the payment on the Prius. We didn't buy anything today, but it gave us a great place to start seriously thinking about what to do. We are still torn between a used Prius at a lesser cost, a new Prius for just a few thousand more (really a difference of only 2K-3K), or a cheap used something else until we can really afford a new car.

UPDATE: We bought a 2007 Prius today. It took FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!! I have never purchased a new car before. I didn't know it was an ALL DAY adventure. We are glad to be home with our new baby. :P

Playmates

Jayden has made friends with the boy next door. Shocking, I know! My open-hearted, friendly, happy, out-going little boy made a friend. ;)

Yesterday, he wanted to go play with his little friend so badly, he asked every 20 seconds if he could go play. Finally, it got to the point where I forgot why I was telling him no and said he needed to put his pants on (he doesn't like to wear pants) and shoes. Then he could go ask if his friend can play for a half-hour outside. Well, I'll tell you! No one has ever seen a little boy move so fast! He got dressed, shoes on, opened the front door and ran next door before I could blink!

Not one minute later, he was running back to our house. I met him on the step and he had a funny look. "What....", I started to ask. "He's not home!", Jayden wailed. And, no sooner did the words fall out of his mouth than did the tears start pouring out of his little eyes. He was absolutely devastated that he couldn't play with his friend. We went inside and the sobbing continued for another 10 minutes before he could finally get a hold of himself. I forgot that Jayden's buddy has swim lessons on Wednesdays. I knew I was saying no for a reason, but I forgot what it was. That was it.

I took the kids out to dinner at Red Robin as planned and after a good meal of grilled cheese, french fries and chocolate shake, Jayden was a happy kid again. When Daddy brought them home, Jayden's neighbor friend was standing outside the truck before Jayden could even get his buckles off. They had a great time playing for a little while before the sun went down and they had to get to bed. All in all, it wasn't a bad evening. I suffered a terrible broken heart for my baby though. Playdate rejection is difficult for us at all ages, but to see your children suffer heartache causes much more damage, I think.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY BOY!

My baby is 4 YEARS old today! I can hardly believe it has been that long! Where does the time go?!?

We've had a wonderful day so far. Jayden woke up pretty early this morning and came tip-toeing in to my room. He asked in the sweetest little voice, "Is today my birthday?" :) I couldn't help but laugh he was so cute! I said yes, but then I told him to lay down and rest some more because it was really early! But, he was too wound up already. I let him watch TV until everyone else was up. About 8:30, he couldn't contain himself anymore. So, we got Dave up and came downstairs "for breakfast". Little did Jayden know that his presents were waiting for him. He was very excited to see the huge box that Grandma and Papa had waiting. He played a bit with the little Diego bicycle we bought for him. But, he couldn't wait to open the wrapping paper! He got a little toy Sarge that Grandma has been hunting for for weeks; the bike from us, and Grandma and Papa gave him his own mini-jumping house. It's shaped like a boxing ring and 7 ft square. We have yet to set it up, but we probably will this evening. He was very excited by all of this, but he liked the Sarge the best. Go figure!

After breakfast, we headed down to Gilroy Gardens for the afternoon. It was a nice family birthday event. Dave got tired before any of the rest of us, but Eliana is the one napping now. Thinking I might take Jayden to the park later to meet up with some of our friends. Then, we will come home for a family dinner and Spiderman birthday cake that I made myself! Yeah...I didn't think I would venture one of these fancy cakes, but I did it and it doesn't look TOO bad. I'll have to post pics later. In fact, I'll get some pics of the whole day in a while so check back for them.

There's too much...

going on these days to keep up! My dad is doing well after his surgery. He is still really tired, but is recovering well. He seems encouraged by the weight-loss from his surgery and is planning to keep it up. YAY!

My dear Davey had his tonsils out on Wednesday last week. Despite all of his plans to the contrary, he was laid up for the whole weekend. He was hoping he would feel well enough to work on the house at least Saturday and Sunday and perhaps even Friday. But...he slept all day on Friday and most of Saturday and Sunday. He is off to work today for a least a part of the day. He doesn't anticipate being able to be there all day.

I am off to take Jayden to his very first real dentist appointment. He had his teeth "counted" the last time we were there, but he is in for the full cleaning today. Fingers crossed that it all goes well! :)

UPDATE------------------
So, Dave, who said he was going to work a half-day ended up being there all day. And Jayden, who was all excited about going to the dentist, did a great job! He got his teeth cleaned and flossed by the hygienist. Then, she tried to put the flouride on with those little cups. But, it was too big for him and he was gagging on it. She kept insisting it would work, but he threw-up on her. But, she still wanted to get the fluoride on. So, she painted it on and held his tongue out of the way. That worked much better! All in all, it was a good visit!

Electrician anyone?

I worked my butt off at the house last weekend. Dave showed me how to wire up electrical boxes and I spent the weekend running wires to various parts of the upstairs and making up boxes. It was actually a lot of fun. I wish I had more time in the earlier stages of the project to have worked at the house because I bet I would have liked doing that too! But, alas, the kids were not independent enough. Anyway, my fingers are really sore from putting those little screw-on wire caps on the ends of the wires...Dave says they are called "pigtails". I think that is a cute little name for "manly men doing manly men things" to call the work they are doing. But, who am I to judge. :)

The good news is that Dave thinks we only have 2-3 more days of work on our part left before we can call in the inspector, the insulation people, the air conditioning people and then the drywall guy. I am looking forward to the drywall going in. That really puts a time-frame to our moving home and I, for one, really want to move home! I think not living in my own home is hindering me from making and maintaining relationships with other moms and families. It could just be my imagination, but I don't think so. I want to reconnect with my neighborhood and my playgroups. I am hoping that when I move home, I can have some play dates for both Eliana and Jayden. They are such social kids that I feel bad when they don't have any friends to play with.

Actually, I felt even worse for Jayden today because a little boy at the park told Jayden that they couldn't be friends because they didn't go to the same school. I think it broke my heart. Jayden was sad for a short bit, but then like water off a duck's back, he was back to his normal self. Wish I were that resilient.

Helloooooooooooooooo Summertime!

Well--the first bit of good news is that Dad is home! He came home this morning. He still has post-surgical aches and pains, but nothing terribly unexpected in a 73-yr-old man who just spent a week in the hospital. He seems to be moving with less and less discomfort. Although, he can't find a comfortable place to sleep. Nothing like those reclining hospital beds to spoil a man! :)

The second bit of good news is that today was the last day of summer school! YAY!! I didn't enjoy teaching this class nearly as much as I had hoped that I would. Part of the problem was that they let kids in the class whose mommies made them take it rather than limiting the class to those kids who needed it to move on in math. It's not a public school, they don't have to take just anyone! But, it's over now! I also signed my contract for the school year today. I will teach just one class from 7:50 to 8:35 M-Th. I get all Fridays and regular holidays off! :) We are thinking the extra money will come in handy when we need things like carpet and Dave's new car....oh yeah...Dave needs a new car. We are thinking a used Prius with carpool stickers. They want a fortune for them, but with Dave's savings in gasoline, we can probably afford it! He will be sad to give up his truck, but I told him we didn't have to get rid of it. As long as he drives it once a week or so, it will stay in usable condition and we should be able to afford to keep it. Any more major repairs and it's toast though!

Update on Dad

He is doing much better today. The doctor said that he is treating him as if his appendix burst and that's why they are keeping him in the hospital. I think it's a good thing because he needs time to heal before he comes home to the house with all of here. The dr. said perhaps Thursday...oh! That's tomorrow!

The rest of us are doing fine. Hanging in and hanging out, but nothing fancy to report.

A week full of activity!

This week was chock full of activity. I went to work on June 18 teaching summer school at Notre Dame. I started then teaching just one class of Algebra 1 skills. This week I picked up a second class for SAT Preparation in Math. This class is way more fun than the first. Both of them have one more week!

But, during this last week we had a lot of fun at Kayleigh's 4th birthday party. My mom is watching the kids for me while I work. So, she took them over to Daniela and Kayleigh's house for the party and left as soon as I got there. That was fun. Then, Uncle Max came over to babysit on Friday while I tutored. I sure am working a lot of hours!

Saturday was busy, too. I started out the day with the pile-up of laundry that I didn't get to for the last 2 weeks while I was busy with working. So, there was a lot of clean stuff to put away and tons of dirty stuff to wash. I got started on the washing and managed to put away all the clean stuff. Additionally, I cleaned out drawers and the closet of all the crappy stuff to get tossed and out of season/size things to be stashed until they come handy again. I even found a stashed bag of clothes for Eliana today at our house that is perfect size and season for her right now! I now even have room to put them away! :) After I got laundry going, I took my mom out to lunch and we took lunch over to Dave and Jayden who were stranded at my house. Dave took his truck in to get fixed AGAIN! We're hoping this'll be the last repair on the truck before we might be able to afford a replacement vehicle.

All seemed to be fine after that, but my dad was feeling less than great. He declined dinner which turned out to be a good thing, because he had appendicitis and had emergency surgery this morning. He is recovering nicely and seems to be of good spirit at this time. Hopefully, he will be home in a couple of days. My mom is not nearly as good-spirited as he is....she is worried...with good reason, but even so.

I am off to bed...I have to teach in the morning.

HELP!!!!

I don't know what to do! My kids fight all the damn time! Jayden purposely takes toys, books, food, anything away from Ellie just to make her mad and make her cry. Eliana climbs into Jayden's chair and sits right on top of him and takes his toys and books just to make him mad and steal them back. The two of them goad eachother and tease eachother and it's driving me CUCKOO! Separately they are both little angels, but together! YIKES!! Wasn't it Ghostbusters where the demon had to have the key master and the other person together to wreak havoc? Not sure how the movie went, but I feel like I am about to get beaten by the enormous Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man!

In the meantime, I started teaching summer school yesterday. My class is BORING!!! They sit like lumps and don't talk and I am not sure I have enough enthusiasm to carry all of us through the course! I hope they start carrying their own weight in the next couple of days. I have to keep reminding myself that I am there for the money and the experience will be over in just a few weeks! But, who knows, maybe I will enjoy it in the end.

Jayden is doing great with spelling!

Saturday we were driving up to the boat. It's a long drive. We talked about many things including the cows on the side of the road. Jayden pointed out to Eliana that cows say, "Moo". When we reached the lake, we pointed out the water to the kids and they got apporpriately excited. I asked Eliana if she wanted to get on a boat. She replied with a resounding, "NO! NO GET WET!" A sentiment that she stuck to all weekend. So after that remark, we got quiet. We were quiet for a good ten minutes while we paid for parking at the ranger station and found a spot for the car. As we pulled into the space, Jayden decided to show off his spelling skills.

"K starts with FUCK," he announced.

Dave and I were shocked, of course. But when we got done laughing our asses off, Dave pointed out, "Not exactly, Jayden. FUCK has a K at the end, but it starts with F." I guess it's as good a spelling lesson as any, right? :)

Houseboat weekend!

We had a great family weekend on the boat this Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We were all actually very sad to leave for home this morning. Unfortunately, Dave has to work for a living and make lots of money for us to spend on the houseboat and other things....like building our house! :)

Here's some pics of our fun:

Money well spent!

When Jayden was about 4 months old, we bought him an Exersaucer for about $40. This lovely little jumpy toy was his favorite place to be when he wasn't curled up in my arms or sitting with Dave. He would jump and jump for minutes on end! When Jayden started crawling, I would put him in the Exersaucer to keep him from roaming too far when I needed some down time. He still loved it. We watched baseball games together while he was in it, we watched football; we watched Wheel of Fortune...ok...so we watched a lot of TV. I was working an awful lot of hours for someone who was only part-time and by the end of the day, I was darned tired! Unfortunately, there came the day when Jayden discovered that he could crawl out of the Exersaucer and regain his freedom. That was the day we had to put it away.

But, when Eliana was old enough to hold her head up, we pulled it out again. This was a joyous day for everyone...except Eliana. She HATED it. I could put her in there for about 5 minutes before she would start WAILING. Jayden, of course, didn't mind that, because once she was out, he could get in again and play. He still loved it. Despite Ellie's lack of interest in this toy, we continued to use it. She was ok in there if we fed her Goldfish or other little finger foods...until either Jayden or Shayna came along and stole her snacks. She really liked being in the toy when we took her outside, though. This was usually the only way she was allowed out back with the pool.

Well, the time came that Eliana was too big for the Exersaucer too and I put it away until a friend had a baby. Then, I dug it out and loaned it. We visited this friend many times in the last year and neither one of my darlings paid it the slightest notice at her house. Last night, I brought it back home. Before I could put it away today, it caught Ellie's attention. Check it out:
Eliana spent a good half hour playing by herself in there and then when she was done, Jayden just had to have his turn. LOL...as I am telling this very story, Eliana is back in it!!! :)

HAPPY POST THIS TIME!!

Really, not depressing like the last post. Marcy's impending move was only part of the inspiration for the last post. Mostly, though, it came from all the time I log hanging out with no adult interaction! This weekend, however, I had a completely unreal experience! I went to a reunion.

Not the "LIVE OAK HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1990" kind of reunion, but a much better one. Every year for about 20 years, my high school drama teacher would host a Drama Club Alumni camp out. The idea is that all the alumni (who wanted to) would meet up with Mr. K and and current students who dared venture out to camp and there would be a weekend of camaraderie and reminiscing. This was the second time I ventured to one of these camp outs..the last being 15 (or so) years ago. Mr. K is retiring at long last from a 32 year career of teaching drama. This camp out was billed as his last official camp out and much effort was put into gathering as many alum as possible for this trip. Thus, there were several people from my years at LOHS that I got to visit with, share stories, and catch-up with. It was a good weekend, albeit LONG! Between dinner and the beginning of the traditional "Capture the Flag" game, was a mind-blowingly slow couple of hours where the die-hards spent time planning our "winning strategy" (no one has ever won this game) while the dramatic ones were seen planning our campfire skits. Once the game began, the time seemed to drag on because our "strategy" was to sit and wait for them to come to us and we would capture most of their team and then rush in and get the flag. Thing was...they had the side of camp with the fire. They didn't come to us, they sat and chatted while we hid in the bushes and waited. An old friend and I were on the same team and "stationed" next to eachother. So, we decided (an hour into the game) to move out into the field and look at the stars. It was a GORGEOUS night out there before the moon came up (and after also). Perfect for star-gazing...and not the Hollywood kind. Gave us a chance to catch up and talk too. That was the best part of the game!

The fun began after the game when we gathered around the campfire. We started out with introducing ourselves (name, grad year, plays, roles, etc.) and well over an hour later (there were a lot of us and some people dragged on), the skits began. We had some of the funniest, well put-together skits I have ever seen around a campfire. I laughed out loud for all of them. Didn't hit the hay until way after 1 and up at 6 to get my butt home! Good LORD and I tired! But, it was a great weekend and I missed my hubby and the kids very much! Glad to be home! :)

DON'T READ THIS....

unless you want to hear my misery.

Motherhood is a lonely job. We give up our jobs, our husbands, our friends, and our lives to take care of our babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. When they are little, we are trapped in our homes by diaper changes, feeding times, and naps. Then, they get older, start school, make their own friends, and leave us for their own fun. We get left at home alone then too.

When we do get out, we meet other mommies who have babies our kids age. We may have nothing else in common with these moms, yet we try to form bonds over our children. When the children drift on to the next phase, so do we. Lasting friendships? Maybe. But especially in the Silicon Valley, what is a lasting friendship good for anyway? Phone calls and overnight visits hours away when one or the other of you moves to a new location. How many of us really have someone to call up and say, "Hey, let's get lunch!" or "Want to meet me for coffee?"

Ok..that's the end of my rant today. If you got this far, thanks for reading. If not, I totally understand. It's very negative today.

One step forward...

...and two steps back!

Yep, we had progress on our house. Dave went over there this morning to get some tools to put some fans in my parents' house and guess what?! Yep...you guessed it! It was our FOURTH break-in since AUGUST!!!!! There are no words to describe how angry I am at this moment in time. Dave is so mad that we are heading to Home Depot in just a few minutes to get several 2 X 4's to put over the doors in the back and front of the house. Fortunately our steel door is hard enough to break into that we are going to beef it up with extra locks, but no barricade. My mood right now....GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Oh yeah! And the bitch cop that came to take the report accused Dave of being on crank because he was pacing! Dave said at least her partner was nice.

Anyone know a deserving mom...

who has a story to tell for a cool prize in Palo Alto? Silicon Valley Moms Blog is having a contest to find the most deserving mom for a makeover, 3 months membership at Vivre with 2 personal trainer sessions; a brand new outfit from Romi Boutique; and a romantic dinner for two at Mantra! Sounds great! Check out the link:


But, here's my thing....How would I determine that I am more deserving of this than any other mom? Yes, I am a stay-at-home mom of 2 kids under age 4. Yes, I am still carrying extra baby fat from pregnancy #1 as well as #2. Yes, I wear my hair in a ponytail most days. Yes, it has gray showing through. Yes, I am still wearing clothes I bought in the 90's! I've had my shoes even longer! And, yes, Dave and I have enjoyed ONE SINGLE night alone since the kids were born. I wore a BORROWED dress for the occasion because I own NOTHING!!! In case you missed those pics, I refer you back to http://lstahlfamily.blogspot.com/2006_12_03_archive.html where we stayed in the fancy hotel with the in-room jacuzzi tub.

Come to think of it...that was not really a romantic night out. I froze my rear off in that slinky dress I borrowed from Judy and we could hardly talk over the music at the Symantec Christmas party. The best part of the night was eating sandwiches from the gift shop while watching some random movie ALL THE WAY THROUGH! I don't remember which movie it was, but I do remember waking up thinking, "Wow! Is it morning? We had better go clean the puke out of the car before we pick the kids up from Aunt Judy and Uncle Gary." This is all coming back to me now that I recall both kids puking in the car on the way to Judy and Gary's house. Oh, the fun times! :)

In any case, I don't think any of this makes me more special or more deserving of the great prizes SVMB is offering in their contest. I mean, so what--my hair is long over-due for styling (2 years); the gray is showing through (but I've never had it colored anyway); my clothes are jeans and tees; my shoes are either old and falling apart or sneakers; my marriage has seen better days (as has my fat ass); and I am carrying more weight than ever before. Oh...but did I mention my house??

Speaking of my house..there is progress. Today Dave met with the stucco guys and they are going to fix our leaky windows. As a bonus, the way they are going to fix them is by adding decorative trim to seal the problem spots and keep water out. We have figured out the loan issue and as soon as the money comes through we are going to make the house livable again and move home! YAY!!!!! Ok...I know...I am getting excited about it way too soon. But, we have been living here at Mom and Dad's for 430 days! Yes...I am counting now and it's been the LONGEST 6-8 weeks of my life! :)

Time is A-FLYING!!

I am sitting here on this glorious Mother's Day all by myself with the peace of early morning wondering WHERE THE HELL IS MAY RUNNING OFF TO???????? I can't believe how fast this month is flying by! We have been so busy. It seems we are running around nearly every day with tons to do! So, here is a little catch up on us:

Jayden is a busy busy boy! He can not sit still for the life of him. We need to get out every day and burn tons of energy to keep him from climbing the walls and terrorizing the household. On the bright side, something happened about a week and half ago. We were visiting with Marcy and gang. I told Jayden that if he pooped in his pants, we were going home. Lo and behold...he pooped in his pants not 5 minutes after we got there. To his credit, he knew he had to go and tried sitting on the toilet. But....I told him we were leaving and he needed to get his things and say good-bye. Marcy was right there while I was dealing with this and talked me out of it saying that we shouldn't punish him for an accident and he tried and....bottom line...We ended up staying. Here's the major event right here.....That was the LAST day he pooped in his pants! Every day since then, he has gone to the potty ALL BY HIMSELF, on his own choice, with no help from anyone, sat down, pooped, and on some occasions even wiped his own butt! YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!! Milestone ACHIEVED!! Thank you, MARCY! We rarely have peeing accidents anymore either, but we need to work on our nighttime accidents now.

Eliana is growing like a weed. She is getting more and more little girl and less and less my baby every day. She loves to have her hair combed and put up in clips or a little (and I mean little) ponytail. She usually pulls it out about 5 minutes after I put it in, but she likes having it done. Her hair is getting thick and long too. I can't wait to see what challenges it will bring in the next few years with all those adorable curls. She is also starting to talk a big bunch. Jayden was not nearly as vocal as Eliana is at her age. He would babble up a storm, but had much fewer words and less desire to be understood as she does. She has sentences like, "Me, eat!" "I'm thirsty." and "Me go out." These are usually coupled with actions like climbing into her high chair to eat, pulling on the fridge door for a drink and carrying her shoes and sweater to the front door and pulling on the door knob. I don't know what I am going to do if she figures out how to open the front door! :)

As for me, I am working up a storm these days. I am still tutoring 8 hours a week, but I am also working for Notre Dame as my mom's personal assistant 10 hours a week--writing tests, grading papers, making photo copies, etc. Maybe this has a lot to do with why I am so busy these days. However, I just bought myself a new stroller (the Baby Trend Sit-n-Stand) so that I am ready to go to Gilroy Gardens (formerly Bonfante), SF Zoo, and neighborhood strolling all summer long. I am working on my motivation for the SJ half-marathon that I am signed up for in October. I figure if I get started on walking, perhaps I can work up my stamina to start putting on the miles. I didn't get very far in the last month, but I think I have done better than the month before. I guess it's a place to start.

Dave is working hard. He works 5 days a week at his regular job and most weekends he is at the house both days. He is trying to figure out how much money we need to get us back in the house and then working out a loan for us to get it done. Our new plan is to be completely finished by Thanksgiving. If it works, we will have Turkey Day at our house again. Fingers crossed!!!

Progress is progress

Jayden pooped in the potty yesterday---ON PURPOSE!! But, today he didn't. So, we had some progress....someday it will all work out.

We are not up to much or doing anything terribly exciting. My choir has our annual spring concert this weekend. It will be fun. I think Dave is coming and his mom plans to come out and hear us too. Sherryl and Anthony are planning to come hear us on Saturday night. That should be nice.

My prayers go out to the Shuman clan tonight. They are crossing a bridge over rough water. Safe passage, Shumans!

Hugs to Julie! She walked her team through the Relay For Life this weekend. WAY TO GO, JULIE!

That's all I know. Peace out!

Girls are so amazing...

Eliana is sitting on the floor next to me playing with a magnetic letter board that I bought for Jayden a while back. While she is sitting there, she is singing the alphabet song! Granted, she is not actually saying the names of the letters...that would be too much! But, she is singing, "d, d, d, d e, d, g..." so only making the sounds she is really good at. But...still it's the ALPHABET song WHILE she is playing with the ALPHABET!!! AMAZING!

She also has a "DADDY" fixation. Yesterday she woke up and called out to Daddy who had already left for the day (taking Jayden to school). But she called out to him and the repeated "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! ..." over and over again as she searched the whole house for him. When he finally came home last night, her face lit up like a Christmas tree! This morning....the first thing she said to me after I picked her up from the crib..."DADDY!" and pointed to where Dave and Jayden were sleeping. you can't win! :)

Nothing to report

We are recovering from being sick...yet again! Poor Dave! He was sick on his birthday. That's kind of sucks for him. I planned a nice (fancy) dinner for him that we ended up eating tonight instead of Thursday because he said he wouldn't be able to eat on Thursday. We had filet mignon and green beans and mashed potatoes. YUM! But DAMN!!! I didn't know Filet mignon was $21 friggin' dollars a pound!!!!! HOLY CRAP!! Still it was good and it's Dave's fave...so we lived high off the hog tonight!

Jayden is doing well with going pee in the potty as long as we remember to send him. He shows no signs of initiative to go on his own and he is still pooping in his pants. I am tempted to have a day of all accidents to prove that he needs to pay better attention to his own body. But, then I am also tempted to put a diaper back on him and see where that leads. In the meantime, since no decision has been made, we send him to pee every hour or so and watch him like a hawk when he crawls behind a table or squats in a corner.

Nothing else going on. Hope all you loyal readers are well.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

And, Happy Sunday to those of us who don't celebrate Easter. :)

We have had an eventful day. We had the WORST brunch at the Fountain (inside the Fairmont) with Dave's mom and family this morning. It was ridiculously expensive and the food was not very impressive at all. Additionally, they charged us for Jayden (who was supposed to be free) and "forgot" to charge us for the drinks (which you would EXPECT to be free)! Oh well, at least we only do this brunch thing a couple of times a year. We just won't be going there EVER again! Although, they had a crème brulée on the dessert table that was SOO GOOD! I like crème brulée. :)

Immediately following brunch (which lasted until 12:30) we journeyed on to Bonfante Gardens (now known as Gilroy Gardens) and had a marvelous time. We enjoyed the rides and the games in fine weather. They had a scavenger hunt for the kids that was fun. Jayden liked getting the little toys and seeds they were passing out. I enjoyed following the map to get to the little tables. It was fun. Eliana had a good time on the rides. Dave was worried that she was too little to have fun, but she was smiling at every turn and even asked to go on some rides. The biggest hit of the day, though, was at the midway games. They had one game that was giving away GIANT (and do I mean BIG) bouncy balls (I think they are supposed to be basketballs colored in the colors of the favorite NBA teams). We got a dark blue and black ball that says San Antonio on it. It must be at least 2 feet in diameter! I expect we will have a lot of fun playing with it!

Hope you are all enjoying your special Sunday.

Until next time, au revoir.

Pee Pee and more Pee

My life must be one governed by a toddler/preschooler. It seems that my every post is about pee and that my posts are getting further and further apart. But, anyway....here's the scoop on the poop (hahahaha...I kill me!)

Jayden is fully in underwear now, FINALLY! He is pretty good about going to use the potty when I tell him to, but not yet ready to decide on his own when he needs to go. Not sure when or how to make that transition, but I think a few more accidents will have to tell us that info. In any case, Jayden is excited about wearing his Power Rangers underwear and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles underwear too. We have yet to open the other two packages that we bought (Cars and Superman) because he has been really good about keeping his pants dry!

Ellie likes to sit on the potty, too. Someday she will figure out what it is there for and she will get trained in a snap (I hope). But for now, I'll just let her up there when she wants it or when everyone else is having a turn. Who knows, maybe one of these days she will pee in the toilet and then have it all figured out. Here's to wishful thinking! :)

On the brighter side of things, I am going to pick up the kids pictures from JC Penney's today. They came out so good, I ended up spending $75 on pics. AND, that was after I got the free sitting fee and my $4.99/sheet coupon! Check them out!


1 2 3


4 5


6 7



8 9



10

Ok...so now you must see how I bought out the entire selection of pics! I couldn't choose from all these great images, so I got them all! Ok...I admit I think my kids are the cutest kids on the planet...but then all mothers think that of their children, right? But seriously, let me know which picture you like best.

"Mommy!!!! My penis hurts!!"

So, Jayden was jumping around in the family room tonight with Uncle Jeff. Next thing I know, he comes running in with tears in his eyes and hand over his crotch. It would be wonderful if he was coming to tell me that he tried to make it to the potty, but had an accident. However, that was not the case. It had nothing to do with the potty. Apparently he slipped while jumping.....

I had an otherwise very pleasant day. I went to a Luncheon to welcome the newest members of Las Madres. They always put together a very nice day--good food, lots of raffle prizes (I didn't win anything), great entertainment. The DJ they hired was none other than my little Max! I was surprised and very pleased that they hired him. I gave a recommendation for him over the chat group to someone who apparently really liked him and passed his name around. He is making a killing on Las Madres events! GO MAX!

House news: Nothing new. We need a loan. We don't have a loan. We are waiting to hear from someone about a loan. No progress made. End.

The week just got even busier!

As if we could possibly cram any more activity into the week....

We took the kids to Happy Hollow on Wednesday. Still a fun place for kids. They plan to revamp the whole park next year. I hope they don't revamp their prices too! But, we had a good time there.

Yesterday, we took the kids to The Jungle. We had a lot of fun there, too! Wes (Dave's bro) had the best time racking up a ton of tickets from the kiddie games. He let the kids go "shopping" at the end of the day. Jayden got some cool fire rescue cars and Eliana got a little stuffed piggy that snorts. We left there in time for Eliana to fall asleep in the car and get a nice nap in before Dave and I left for dinner at the Melting Pot. Dinner took 4 HOURS!! I have never had such a long meal! Apparently my body could not handle the stress of it as I came home with a nasty migraine. :(

Today we ended up doing a thousand errands with Michelle that didn't get done during the week for all the fun we were having. Then ran off to the photographer's studio for pictures. I get to see the proofs next week, but the kids looked great (despite a rash on Jayden's arms). I am hoping the rest of us looked decent too. We'll have to wait and see.

I am now off to get ready for Shabbat Services which start early tonight because of the potluck dinner we are having after. Mom and I are supposed to host the refreshements after services...it's some serious work. That's all I have time for! Busy busy busy! :)

Checking in

Just checking in...not much going on, but wanted to keep my readers happy with an update. Ok...I'm lying. I just wanted to know if there were readers out there missing me! :)

Here's the week in summary: Dave's sister arrived in town on Sunday; his brother and wife in town Monday; Sister's boyfriend will arrive today. Big "family" dinner tomorrow night at the Melting Pot. Should be yummy! I'm looking forward to it! Family and friends party at Aunt Judy's gig on Friday night in the bar. :( Not looking forward to it. Love Aunt Judy, love to hear her sing....but, I'm old. The music is too loud and I don't like hanging out in a bar. Gonna be a busy week!

Lullaby. Sleep all night...la la LA la la la la....

So, it finally happened!! YAY!! My kids both sleep through the night...the WHOLE night and here's the biggie....IN THEIR OWN BEDS!!!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!

I have been hesitant in declaring it done, but Ellie has done it for a week now! YAY for us! Perhaps we will have caught up on sleep in a month's time and be ready for some real adventure! :) Plus, I am weaning (finally) and I can't wait to be done with that! I think we might need another week or so before I can say weaning is complete. On the bright side, it didn't take me nearly as long to wean Eliana as it took to wean Jayden! YAY, again! :)

Be on the look-out for the new Discovery Toys catalogs arriving in the mail! I absolutely LOVE what's on pages, 3, 5, and 23! ;)

Now that the flood has past....

I am back online! My computer suffered minor damage in the flood this week. What's that? Oh, yes...the flood. Well, Jayden had a cup of water at my desk and he spilled it; refilled it; spilled it again; found a spray bottle with more water and decided to use it to "clean" and thus...the flood. My desk was floating; the floor was squishy; Dave's desk was wet; and the kitchen floor was so deep with water that there were fish and a diving board for swimming! Ok..I might be exaggerating a tiny bit, but not a whole lot! All in all, the only equipment we had to replace was the keyboards for both my computer and Dave's. AND, it helped me clean up my desk...so...maybe it wasn't all bad..............................

Ok..yes it was! I nearly lost all control of my temper. But, I called Dave; took deep breaths; cleaned with deliberate moves; and totally calmed down before I addressed my bewildered tot with what he did and why it was wrong and what his consequences were for doing it. YAY ME! :)

Of course, it was all my fault in the first place. I gave him the cup to drink from. I left the spray bottle in sight and reach. AND, I left him alone long enough to cause a problem while I was putting Eliana down for a nap which took FOREVER because I am working on weaning her. I think we should be done with it by next week! Again, YAY ME! :)

Life in the dragon lane

A TAN Dragon Lies Beneath!

My inner dragon is the true draconic magic-user. Deep down I am very wise, somewhat shy, and I have a rather short fuse. But don't worry, tans prefer to spend their time counting their enormous treasure, so pass quietly and you'll stay out of danger. Click the image to try the Inner Dragon Online Quiz for yourself.

Ok...that said....here's what's been happening. We're sick again! OK, besides that....

Jayden is trying to learn to read. He is picking out simple words from books he knows and pointing to them, saying them, and spelling them. It's pre-reading, but the interest is what I am excited about. He is showing progress and growth in all areas of 3. Today, we were visiting an adult friend of mine and from the distance, I heard the toilet flush. I ran to see what they were doing and Jayden looks innocently at me and says, "I had to pee."

Me: "Nuh-uh! Are you serious? You just came in here all by yourself to go potty?!?!"

Jayden: "Yeah! But, the water is blue." (note here that she had those blue toilet things)

Me: "That's ok...it helps keep the toilet clean. Do you still need to go?"

Jayden: "Yeah, but I need help."

Me: "Ok, let's get to it then!" And, I put him on the toilet. In the meantime, Eliana was getting her little hands into everything. I think it was a calculated ploy, this potty thing, so that they wouldn't get into trouble for exploring. But...

Jayden (while getting down): "I'm all done. But, I didn't pee-pee."

It was all very funny and shocking and cool! This is the first time he has decided all by himself to tend to his toiletry needs. Last time he went pee on his own initiative, I had sent him to go change his diaper. I never told him to pee...he just did. I think we will have this pottying thing down before kindergarten yet.

Off to feed the little ones now.

It's raining..

but it's not yet pouring. The weather is actually kind of nice, but you know the expression. So, yesterday, Shayna had her little run-in with a bitty little kitty. Today, she could hardly move. I just took her to the vet for an evaluation. She seems to be fine, but the old bat pulled muscles in her back and hind legs. She is sore, but not broken. She is going to get a round of antibiotics for the possible infection from kitty-punctures and some pain meds until she is walking better. It cost us a pretty penny, but she's worth it.

So...to explain the raining....it's actually good news among the bad. Some thieves were caught stealing a car last night. No...not mine! But, someone who lives on my street. In addition to stealing the car, these guys broke into several other cars on the street including my brothers...but thankfully not mine. The good news...they got caught RED-HANDED. We are kind of hoping they are the same shits that keep messing with Dave's truck. If they are, then we expect that will stop too.

Dogs chase cats...

and sometimes the cats don't get away. Shayna chased a trio of cats out of our yard today, but one pretty grey cat didn't make it over the fence and got caught. It fought back before I could get in to break it up. Shayna is now (and it's all my fault for letting her out there in the first dang place) bleeding from several puncture wounds caused by the cat. One hole is in her face, one on the top of her head, and her ear is pretty chewed up. I am feeling pretty guilty for letting her out there and yet, she did her job keeping the yard clear of unwanted animals. I just never expect the cat to not get away and I never expected Shayna to actually catch it. I'm feeling pretty bad about the whole thing. I didn't want the cat to get hurt either...just didn't want him hanging around my yard and pooping in my grass and dirt...and bringing his fleas around...and....

Hope it heals without infection.

On the bright side, I found my camera! :)

The Good, The Bad, and the Mundane

Not a whole lot but sick going on here these days. Haven't heard from me in a while and wonder why? Not much to report. Here's the list:

House not done yet. Expected move in date...mid-March.

Jayden--not potty-trained or interested. One time poop was a fluke. Been sick with fever since Monday night. Missed school this week, but he is on the mend.

Eliana--likes to sit on potty...knows about pooping before hand and requests to use toilet for pooping. YAY!! Not sick! Also, YAY!

Dave--slaving away on the house. Took most of this week off to work. YAY!

Me--Sore throat going on 3 weeks now. Coupled with fatigue...may be allergies...may be sick. not sure. Lost my camera...hope it's in the car. :(

Shayna--great watchdog. Barks at all visitors including the leaves! :)

All in all...nothing special going on.

There may be a light at the end of the tunnel!

So, after my post on Eliana's desire to use the potty, the most amazing thing happened. We were playing at CityBeach in Fremont for my brother's birthday celebration. He wanted to go rock-climbing and this seemed like a good place to go since it had other things to do besides climb. It turned out that we didn't do anything else there, but still it was a good time. I would like to go back again.

Anyway, we headed out to Red Robin for lunch where we proceded to gorge on milkshakes and burgers. After lunch, Jayden had a funny look on his face. I asked, "What's up, Jayden, you okay?" He said, "Mommy, I hafta poopie." I said,"You have to or you already did?" "Not yet " "Can you h0ld it a second? Let's go to the bathroom!" "Ok"

Then we rushed to the bathroom, I put the paper down and put him on the potty...HE HELD IT! And, then, it was time to poop. Nope...he got scared and wanted to get down. I bribed him with a new toy if he pooped in the potty. He bit! A new toy is in the making! My adorable, stubborn, obstinate little boy finally agreed to poop in the potty! YAY!!

Later in the evening, we went out to dinner with Dave's brother (yep...a day of brothers!) and we went to Blockbuster to get some movies. While we were shopping, Jayden said,"I have to go potty!" I was dumbfounded! But, Ashley was waving at her nose as though he already pooped so I thought we were too late. Dave rushed Jayden to the potty but it was grosser than gross in there. He changed Jayden's diaper and figured since it was full of pee that he had already gone. Turns out, a few minutes later, Jayden was poopy again! HE ASKED TO GO TO THE POTTY TWICE IN THE SAME DAY! WOW!

I am hoping that was a jumpstart from Ellie's desire to use the potty. Maybe it is the start of something real....

Here's to hoping!

POOPIES IN THE POTTY!!

Ok...so most of you readers are mommies and you have little ones who are already potty trained. But, for those of us who have been struggling with our stubborn-gonna-do-it-their-own-way-in-their-own-time-tots... I got child-sized poopies in the potty tonight BY REQUEST!!! Nope...before you start saying "Yay, Jayden!" Let me stop you and correct it to "Yay, Ellie!"

Yep! I am not kidding! She said she had to go; patted her bottom and said poopies; pointed to the potty. I wasn't sure if she was serious or not, but figured "why not" and put her on the potty. She sat there for a minute like she usually does when she wants to sit there...and then, her face changed to the "pooping" face and there it was, "ker-splash"! I couldn't believe it! I think I was more excited about it than anyone else INCLUDING Ellie! But, it gives me hope that she will be easier to potty-train than Jayden who is still not using the toilet either by choice or by bribe. I hope that he chooses to get past this soon and start using the potty, but if not, we are going commando as soon as we get back into our house. No...that is not expected to be any time soon; but, it gives me something to look forward to. :)

Well, it seems to be a beat-em-up, bang-up, fix-em-up, treat-em-tender kind of week. Eliana got smacked in the head with a toy hammer when Jayden tried to get her interested in that toy instead of the one he had. Jayden smacked his forehead on the edge of a table while trying to pick something up from the floor. Eliana did some ballerina act yesterday while I wasn't home and gave herself a fat lip and a shiner. Dave said she hit the edge of the bed, but there was no discussion on what she did (or where he was) to create such a masterpiece on her face. Ok...to tell the truth, I didn't even notice it until he pointed it out. Her eye is bruised, but only on the lid and she has to close it for it to be seen. Her lip is a bit scratched up, but nothing that will keep her from healing quickly, eating fully, or smiling that infectious smile of hers. I'm hoping for bruise- and scratch-free faces next week. Maybe we will get some pics done. We'll see.

As for the rest of the week....we send prayers for Jonathan and Zachary who have been quite ill and spending time in the hospital. May they have full, quick recoveries and never put their poor mother through the hell she has been through this last week. Prayers for the Shumans...they are also cooped up with runny noses and other unfriendly viral crap. And, lastly, one more big prayer for Dave's grandma who was kept in the hospital overnight for blurred vision and slurred speech issues. May she have a full recovery and enjoy her stop-over in Reno with lots of winnings and no medical issues! :)

Discovery Museum and stuff

We have not been up to much lately. It's been a pretty uneventful week (thank GOD!). Sometimes these weeks are the longest weeks ever, but right after all the hustle and bustle of holidays and bringing in the new year and such, it seems like a blessing to have a simple, normal routine with very little activity.

My parents and I took the kids to the Children's Discovery Museum on Friday. It was our first trip there since Jayden was 6 months old. I have been reluctant to go because there is a lot of chaos there and I worried that it would be age-wise inappropriate for the kids. Most of the stuff there was designed with older kids in mind, I think. There is a lot of knowledge to be gained by playing with the equipment and such, but the level is over the heads of a 3 year old. However, both kids had a GREAT time playing on the stuff and with stuff and even though the "discovery" part was way over their heads, the play part was totally there! SO....here are some pics from the day!

Ellie wasn't excited by the motorcycle in the first picture (probably because she was in the back) but I had to pry her off the fire truck!







Grandma and Ellie were relaxing in the swing.
Both kids had a great time playing in the water area. Eliana LOVED the whirlpool while Jayden thought the balls floating on the water spouts were too much! Despite the great looking aprons CDM provided, the kids ended up SOAKED! Good thing we brought a change of clothes!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

May this new year find you in great times, healthy living, surrounded by love, and in good spirits! If not, try ale! ;)