Addie's 3!

I cannot believe how fast this year went. She just turned two. I think I was so focused on surviving that I didn't realize 3 was coming. I made the mistake of telling her she was going to have a birthday soon, back in October. Why? Not sure. Sometimes I say things and immediately regret them. She's been telling everyone, Ma birfdays comin yeah! I gonna be fwee! So everyday she's been asking if we're going to do her birfday today... Soon! I say. Oh yaaaaay!! She screams. 

It finally came. We celebrated up in Bakersfield since we were there for the Thanksgiving holiday. I let her pick her cake. She wanted banana bread. I let her pick her balloons. She requested 5 green ones and a Mickey balloon. My sister Wendy took her shopping to pick out a new baby doll and her birthday was complete. Birthdays are way easy when there are no expectations. She was super excited about not a whole lot.

Now we can move on with our lives and she can tell people she's 3. 

P.S. Thanks for the shirt Mari! Good ol' Mari =)

lizzy

One of Winter's all time favorite hobbies is catching lizards. She loves to hold them, pet them, and make little homes for them. She always names them Lizzy and they are always boys. She's killed a few unfortunately. The cause of death varies from over squeezing to the occasional mishap like accidentally stepping on them. She's learned a lot about lizards in the process like you can't hold them by their tail, sometimes they bite, and they eat flies and gnats for dinner. 

I'm constantly trying to convince her to let them go so they have a better chance of survival but she loves them so much. She can't bear to let them out of her sight. Mari let her borrow this lizard cage. She caught this lizard and played with it all day. Then it was time for dinner so she made a little bed for it and put him down for the night. While the kids were eating I went to check on the lizard. It wasn't moving at all. And its little lizard arms were curled up and it was "sleeping" on its side. It looked completely dead to me. I shook the cage a little bit to double check. No movement. I asked myself, do lizards play dead? 

I told Winter that I was pretty sure she killed another lizard but she assured me that he was just sleeping. "No" I said. "He looks very dead sweety." 

"Okay" she said, "I'll put him in the front yard so he can come alive again." Then we had to have a short conversation about how dead things don't come alive unless they're Jesus.

So after dinner, she picked up the sleeping Lizzy and he starting wiggling around. Amazing. Lizards do play dead. "See mom! I told you he was just sleeping!" She yelled annoyed with me. Then she put him back to bed. 

It's kind of hard to see him through the net cage. He's the one sleeping on the white "pillow" made from a piece of paper towel. His blanket is also a paper towel that got wet and dirty. Cozy.

kids on paper

Little girls love writing letters, notes, drawings, cards etc. Maybe little boys do too... We'll see. But the girls draw Dan and I pictures and write us notes every day. We do enjoy them. 

Mya is quite the artist these days. She copied this from a pic online. If you can't read the little bubble it says, "Twinkle twinkle little star. Do you know how loved you are?"

She added the "Im stinky." and the squiggly lines to show the stinkiness of the feet and diapers. It just shows what she thinks of babies... pretty accurate I think.

I love that in Winter's world, she is bigger than her dad.

Because what, Winter? Couldn't think of anything? It was a nice thought.

pigeons

All my kids are food thieves. It always looks better when mommy's eating it. I thought I was safe with salad but darn those croutons. Sometimes I eat standing up at the island so I don't have to share. 

me day

Dan took pity on me and sent me away to have an afternoon to myself. He requested that I not spend too much money. Challenge accepted. I pulled out all of my gift cards and decided to go to Pasadena where Burke Williams, CPK and Yogurtland are located within blocks of each other. Probably 3 of my top 10 favorite places.

I know I've written about Burke Williams before but in case you forgot, it is a spa where you are treated like royalty and they have everything you will ever need. Although I did ask them for mascara and eyeliner and an eyebrow pencil and the lady said, "No we don't have make-up but we have tooth brushes!" Not even close helpful happy lady. But it didn't matter. I'm sure my face looked 10 years younger from all the silence and relaxation anyway.

I love that place because they really keep the noise down to pretty much nonexistent. There are signs everywhere that say "refrain from conversation." And if you do start to talk to someone, as women tend to do, a member of the staff will come by and gently ding the wind chimes to remind you to be quiet so others can relax. They don't even look at you. They just slowly walk by in their passive aggressive way and ding those calming spa chimes until you get the hint. I'm going to try that at home... nope. Those wind chimes would be broken in 2 minutes.

It was super lovely. I made sure to use every single amenity. The steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, mist room, shower, vanity and the cucumber water station.. I was only able to stay in each room for like 2 minutes before I got too hot. But I enjoyed those 2 minutes. I'm not really sure what the mist room was for... I used it to cool off after the jacuzzi then hop back in. The staff must have thought I had ADD or something. I took a super long shower and shaved both legs from top to bottom. That happens about once a year right before swimsuit season usually. Then I washed my hair. Twice. Then I blew it dry and curled it just cuz. They have curling irons at the vanity station! I do love a good vanity with a nice cushiony round seat. So nice. When the kids grow up and I have time to sit and do my hair and makeup, I'm going to need one for sure.

So when I had been there longer than anyone has ever been there, I said thank you and walked my relaxed, curly haired self over to CPK where I ordered two of my very favorite things. A giant Blue Moon with an orange in it and a BBQ chopped chicken salad.

And after that, since I had a Yogurtland gift card (I'm holding onto for Mya), I got myself a treat for the walk back to my car. It was a perfect afternoon/evening. And I came home to a clean house and all the kids in bed. Best day ever.

And then I noticed I had two different colored flip flops on. How do I keep doing that?

addie time

A day with Addie:

Starts out like this...

Then this happens... Thank goodness for those little holes in the top of the sink. Otherwise my bathroom would be flooded. "I wash my hands and den I do dis mama."

Dan came home so we separated the two little people because... well, the top picture.  So Addie came with me to run errands. She has to go potty everywhere we go. I never know if she actually has to go. I don't really want to call her bluff and deal with a puddle on the floor. So we've seen every potty in every store we've walked into since June. The super hand dryers are very exciting. All the ladies in the stalls get to hear it going on and off and Addie screaming every time it comes back on.

Thrift store carts are just the perfect size to push. Got some new pants for Angus. 

My crazy little Addie <3

when the cat's away

When Daddy is at work things are a bit different at home. Mommy goes straight to survival mode. Pots and pans all over the floor getting dog hair in them. Worth it. You want to eat in the living room? Fine. As long as you're quiet. Anything that will stop Addie from whining goes. Angus, you want to go outside and get soaking wet and come back in and track it through the house? Works for me. Just do it quietly.

When Dan is home, we are a somewhat normal family. Chaotic and messy, but there are rules and a method to the madness if you will. But when he's at work for a few days, especially for like 4 or 5 days at a time, Mommy is just trying to keep everyone safe and fed. That's literally my goal. Eat and don't get hurt please. I started documenting my days and realized things have gotten a little bit out of control here. Dan you may just want to stop reading here... =)

A few days ago, I locked my keys in my car at soccer practice. No biggie. I was there for an hour anyway. So I called my trustee AAA people and they sent a guy to unlock the door. Kind of embarrassing yes. No one really noticed at first... But then the anti-burglary honking horn went off until I could climb through the front seat all the way to the very back trunk part where my purse was, locate my keys in my bottomless purse and fumble with the buttons until it stopped. Whatever. 

The next day, literally one minute before it was time to go to morning drop off, Angus broke into the baby proofed cabinet, shook a diet coke then threw it against the cupboard door where it exploded everywhere. He cried loudly because no one likes to be sprayed with soda and the girls had lots of questions and mom yelled at everyone to go away, cleaned it up with paper towels and baby wipes and managed to get a picture AND get to school on time. 

I live completely flustered and tired most days but I still try to be crafty. But then it comes out like this. 

Mya and Winter have become very independent. This is them eating dinner (nuked Jimmy Dean's egg and sausage sandwiches) out front on folding tables, a stroller and a stepping stool. Winter's wearing PJ's and Mya is wearing a princess dress up gown.

Dan would NEVER allow this. Angus is standing on a chair (not really allowed in our house) playing right next to the stove (definitely not allowed), with stuff on the stove. But it makes him sooo happy. 

And we never give the kids candy...

angus and his pots

He's never been a fan of common toys.

bee drama

I wasn't going to write about this because it makes me feel icky, both physically and emotionally. But it was a pretty significant breakthrough in my relationship with bees.

It all started a few Saturdays ago when I went to take the kids to Soccer and noticed about 20 dead bees on my driveway. Hmmm, odd. No biggie seeing as they were dead... I wondered where they came from but that was the end of it.

The next morning I noticed more dead bees on the driveway. I was a little more bothered this time so I called Dan at work and asked him if he knew anything about the bee corpses. He said that he had also noticed them the day before but didn't know where they were coming from.

So, when we pulled in the driveway after church, I told the girls, "Be careful where you step because there are a bunch of dead bees in the driveway and some of them aren't all the way dead and you guys are wearing flip flops. I don't know what's up with the bees but it's very strange."

Then Winter said, "Well they're probably coming from that beehive in our tree." Then Mya said, "Oh yeah she was talking about that yesterday. Oh look Mom, there it is!"

PANIC.

I didn't even want to look. And maybe if I didn't look, it wasn't real. It was just the girls imagining things. But I had to because of my responsibility to my house and children and there was a little curiosity there. Like a terrified curiosity. By the way, bees are at the top of my list of things that make me scream and run.

I sat in the car, windows rolled up, car on, doors locked and slowly looked up into my tree. The tree I just parked under. Yep, there it was.

Side note: Apparently, once the queen bee has used the worker bees, they die. Hence the bee corpses everywhere. Poor little guys. 

I watched the bees for a minute and they seemed like they just pretty much kept to their spot in the tree. So still completely freaked out, heart racing, I got the kids out of the car and managed not to have a heart attack on my way in the house.

I immediately called Dan. I told him the situation and asked him what to do. He requested a picture. I told him no way in hell, but then I remembered the awesome camera with the zoom lens we keep in our office. We never use it anymore because... well smart phones I guess. So I pulled it out, ran across the street and took the picture you see above. He said he'd take care of it when he got home. 

The next day, he tried to get a hold of guys he knew that knew guys that may want bees for personal hives. These people are professional beekeepers. A profession completely beyond scary to me. But we needed someone crazy like that to come and get the bees. 

I advertised everywhere on Facebook. I posted the pic in several groups in hopes someone would know someone who would come take these bees away for free. After about a week, we still had no takers. Dan had exhausted all of his possibilities and all I got in response to my posts were several comments either saying just wait a few days and they will be gone (nope) or how bees are on the endangered species list and I should not kill them. People really care about bees these days. But still no one was willing to take them away. There were a few people who would take the bees away and relocate them for about $100. I don't even want to know how they do that.

But I didn't want to pay $100. I didn't invite the bees. They just camped out on our tree. My neighbors were totally on board with paying someone $100 to come take the bees. They even offered to pay for it. It was actually closer to their driveway than ours. But I didn't want them to have to pay for it. It was our tree. They would secretly be bitter about the bees they paid to have removed for years to come. 

The hive began to grow longer and fatter and my neighbor began to grow more concerned so we decided we were going to just pay to have someone come out and handle it. 

I ended up getting a really good deal to have them killed. I'm a total bee murderer. 

I tried to get someone to take them away. I tried. But people wanted money. Money I didn't have. And this way, it was going to be next to nothing. And that beat $100. I checked with my neighbor and Dan and we all agreed. 

So the next morning the bees died in their sleep. I'd like to think they didn't feel any pain. 

That whole day I felt horrible. So much bee guilt. And to make it worse, I got a message from a beekeeper who said he would come out and take the bees for $40. Then I got another message from a pastor/bee keeper who said he would come out and take the bees for FREE. Ugh. I didn't answer or call them back. Then the $40 bee keeper kept calling. He left 5 messages. Why?! Why couldn't he just assume I wasn't interested? I didn't want to tell him I killed them. But he kept calling. I finally answered and told him quickly that I didn't need him anymore and thanked him and hung up. Whew. 

I still feel awful but I think in a weird way I've grown to like bees a little bit more. I've seen them in action. And what I thought would be my worst nightmare wasn't even bad. It was actually kind of cool. After around 6PM all the bees would go to sleep and they wouldn't even move a tiny bit. I felt brave enough to get a closer look. I was in awe. God made these little creatures. And it is so amazing that they all just know what to do all the time. 

And then I killed them. Sorry. This is a super depressing post. And slightly ridiculous. But obviously it really affected me. And that's why I wrote it. Anyway, that's what happened. I still have a bee-phobia but I think I've grown to not hate them. I've accepted their place in the world and I've heard without bees there would be no coffee so there's that. 

I'm so so sorry bees. I tried to save you... kind of.

1.5

A very sweet friend of the family passed away recently so we piled the kids in the van and drove an hour and a half to attend the funeral service. It took place in a pretty awesome little nursery/garden. Angus was way too worked up from the car ride and pretty excited about exploring the grounds to hold still and let me listen to the service so we left Dan and the girls and ventured off.

I thought, well he's all dressed up, and how often does it happen that he's wearing clean matching clothes? Pretty much never. So I bought myself a coffee at the nursery cafe and we had a mini photo shoot.

Okay, this may sound horrible but I like to keep it candid here on my blog. And if you're reading this, future Angus, mama loves you =) 

So, at first when Angus was born, we kind of wondered about his cuteness. We got a lot of comments like wow he's all boy or wow he doesn't look like his sisters at all or awe how precious. That's what I say when some one's baby is a little weird looking. What I'm trying to say is, it took Angus a while to grow into his looks. 

But look at him now. He's 1 1/2 years old. He's just the cutest thing I've ever seen. I mean wow. Sometimes I attack hug and kiss him and bite his perfect belly because I just can't hold myself back. This guy. Seriously, have you ever seen anything like him? Okay I'm totally biased obviously. But man is he cute. <3

I take pictures of Angus all the time because clearly I have issues. But as a result he gets annoyed when I point the camera phone at him. I say smile Angus! and he yells back noooowwww! Then he looks away. So I had to get creative and yell COOKIE! Or DOGGIE! Totally worked. 

my man

When you've been married for a while and you have a bunch of kids, it is still possible to keep the romance alive. It looks a little different, however, but it's still doable. Chocolate and flowers would be appreciated but they would not really do much for me. The box of chocolates would be gone in one night if I'm being honest and the flowers would be hidden in the mess that is my kitchen.

I don't talk about my husband too much on my blog. For one, I don't like to brag. I think it's kind of annoying when people go on and on about how great their spouses are. (Warning: I'm totally gonna do that) And two, if we're having a bad day, I don't want to air my dirty laundry. So, I keep my Dan thoughts to a minimum usually.

But he has done some sweet stuff recently that I had to share. He's always been sweet to me but maybe it just means more lately because I'm pretty sure I've lost any patience I once had and my sanity and mind are next.

Dan shows me he loves me in many different ways.

He made two meat loaves. He wanted pork and I wanted beef so he made one for each of us. Twice as much work. So thoughtful.

On a related subject he cuts the fat off of my steak. Ever since we were dating, he's trimmed my piece of steak so I wouldn't have to. He knows I hate accidentally eating fat and I hate trying to locate it to get it all off. I know, I'm pretty high maintenance when it comes to meat. In my defense, I grew up vegetarian. 

He has taken all four kids to school drop off in the morning. Normally be leaves Angus with me and takes Addie. But a few times recently he took all four and gave me 25 minutes of quiet. One of the best gifts a mom can receive in the morning.

He always pumps my gas. Another thing he's been doing since we were dating. Whenever I stop at the gas station, he gets out and pumps. What a gent <3

The other night I was on a rampage. I was losing it. I went off on Winter for throwing clothes in the toy box again and yelled at Addie for scream/crying again which only made her continue her fit. Dan suggested I take a walk to which I snapped it's too hot outside! and went up to my room, shut the door and turned on the bathroom fan to drown out any noise downstairs. After I calmed down I came downstairs to a sink of clean dishes. Not only did I leave him downstairs to deal with the dreaded 30 mins before bed when the girls pick up the toys (with tons of reminders) and the babies cry, but he unloaded and loaded the dishwasher after he cooked dinner. Too good to me, that one.

And last Thursday we went to a Dodger playoff game. (We'll get to the World Series one of these years boys) Before we left I hadn't showered and still had to run a couple of errands. I told Dan I still needed to get ready and did not feel cute at all. So he ran the errands for me (which he does not enjoy like I do) so I could stay and shower and feel like someone who was not run over by a truck. The babies both napped so I had a whole hour to get ready. That never happens anymore. So I curled my hair! 

Thanks Honey

black and white october