escape to bako

Bakersfield has become my happy place. My sister likes to call it The New Palm Springs. Wendy and I planned a little summer retreat back in January. Well, I suggested it and she planned it. And when Wendy plans something, it may look like she has hired a team of professional party planners on uppers but it's actually just one person... Wendy.

Top 10 favorite things about ladies weekend 2017:

10. There were NO kids there. Love ya kids.

9. There were no boys there. Sorry boys, we totally love you too, we really do. But we were able to let our muffin tops out and our pasty thighs bask in the sunshine without worrying about how they may shock an innocent male bystander.

8. Animals roaming free in the backyard. There's something therapeutic about floating around in the pool and hearing the sounds of chickens clucking by or horses and goats talking to each other in their calming animal voices.

7. Slept when I felt like it. Stayed up late and slept in... like the weekend used to be like before kids.

6. Massages! Wendy arranged for a masseuse to come to the house. Rosie and her magic fingers need to move down to SoCal so we can hang out again.

5. Cocktails and food. Wendy made a menu including cocktails with every meal of course. This included mimosas and brunch when we arrived Friday. That crazy awesome overachieving sister of mine spent hours prepping Thursday.

4. Impromptu 80s and 90s hip hop dance party.

3. Cards against humanity. Best game ever.

2. Walking through the almond trees. That will always be at the top for me.

1. Quality time with some truly amazing ladies. I loved being able to catch up with old friends and family I rarely get to see.

There was much more that helped to make the weekend perfect like the crazy welcome baskets Wendy left on each of our beds, the gorgeous property, and details like pretty plates and fancy glasses. We got to explore downtown and shop a little bit too. And everyone got along and no one was high maintenance or caused drama. It really was the perfect way to relax.

And then BAM! Right back into it.

Thanks to my superhuman nearly 70-year-old mom for watching all four kids 2 out of 3 days! You're BEYOND amazing. Thanks to hubby too for saying yes to ladies weekend, and always taking care of the kids so well that I never worry about a single thing when I'm not there. And Mya, for pretty much running the show in my absence I'm certain. I'm not sure my mom and Dan would be able to find a single thing without her. She also tells the truth when asked what mommy usually does... Winter will tell a fun story but it's rarely correct.

reluctant photoshoot

Dan's birthday is coming up. He brought home a frame I gave him a few years ago to hang up at work, and requested some updated pictures for his birthday. He was like, No big deal, just take a few pics and put them in. You take pictures of the kids all the time. 

So of course I started stressing out immediately. For one thing, the kids are pretty much never wearing clothes these days. What's the point when it's 100 degrees and you live in the pool? So Sunday, I took advantage of the fact that the kids usually wear clothes to church... at least on the way in. I brought my super expensive camera with me that I begged Dan for and never use. That was like a birthday present in and of itself. He loves it when I take that baby out and get all paparazzi-like.

The big girls are definitely easier than the little ones. But they don't always cooperate like they should. If I can get all the kids in the morning when they are still in a good mood, chances are higher of actually getting some okay shots.

Mya is still learning how to smile for the camera. She immediately goes into deer caught in headlights mode. I always tell her to give me a natural smile and this is what I usually get. We're working on it. She's always very cooperative though which I really appreciate. 

Winter is a born model. She can so easily flash an effortless smile and it's totally frameable. I have tons of Winter pics to chose from. She's a feisty one, however, so sometimes she starts messing around and making horrible faces that are really not appreciated when I'm trying to take a nice pic for Dad. But usually I love it. 

Addie's 3 so she's bit bipolar so it's extremely hit or miss with her...

Pretty much all pictures I take of this guy end up like this... oh and he also HATES to be photographed. I tell you, he's like Dan in every way possible. 

But I actually got a few cute ones after taking pictures of them literally all day. And I forgot how much I love looking through the lens and feeling that satisfying click when I take the pictures. It really is kind of awesome. But I would make a horrible family photographer. I don't know what professionals do but I say fart a lot for the older ones and throw a couple of fart sounds in for the younger ones. Not sure how else to get them to smile. They find the most random things funny and are not amused by the normal funny things. So yeah, fun day.

I'll post the finished product after Monday since Dan looks at this blog and I want him to kind of be surprised even though he knows what's coming... and he knows what his kids look like. 

UPDATE: Here's what we went with. There were only 3 spots so I had to combine the older two. 

I love 3

Addie is nonstop entertaining. Her tininess adds to the cuteness. And it allows her to do pretty much whatever she wants. I really do need to punish her more and correct her when she yells at me... maybe soon.

The other day she asked me, "God and Jesus and Santa is friends right mom?" I replied, "Of course they are."

Hurry and take the picture, the sun is burning me!! It was like 74 degrees out.

This beautiful vibrant pinkish purple color came back up about two hours later. She got most of it in the toilet thanks to my ear for gagging and my cat like reflexes. It's not the first time I've heard puke warning noises coming from one of my dear little ones. But some of it did manage to leave a little drop on everything along the way from my bed to the toilet. Yep MY bed. She was watching TV in my bed when it happened. Par for the course I guess. After she was done puking she said, "I fink I'm sick mom!"

This is our Frankenstein couch. We paid a couch repair man to stitch this up. He warned us that it would be ugly but agreed to do it. Addie ran up to him while he was stitching and gave him a giant hug with her whole body, head leaning on his head and said, "Fank you for fixing our couch Mister Maaann!!"

He became very awkward and said "Umm haha I'm not really used to little girls." Not sure what he meant by that but I removed her from his side and he continued working. 

black and white june

Mya took this pic. It's one of my most favorites.

Big sis. Little bro.

Me: Where'd Angus go?? Ugh whatever we don't need him I guess. Let's put this blanket on Addie so she's not so naked. 

Addie: I HATE THIS BLANKET!! 

Me: ugh can you just smile please Addie. Or how about can everyone just look in my direction?

Everyone had ice cream but Angus doesn't like cold things, even though it was like 97 degrees, so he chose a lollipop. Perfect. Cheaper. Done.

Rocking the heart necklace.

A night out with friends. Friends I've known for over 20 years. Crazy. Oh and Wendy who I've known for over 36 years cuz she's my sister. I always look so excited to be out. Can't hide it I guess.

So this is what school is like...

Mya reminds me so much of my mom. She's built just like her, inside and out. Both tiny with huge hearts. Whenever she complains about her size, I remind her that she's just like her Grandma. She's totally okay with that.

I really need to work on my selfie face...

This hair. I love it so much. But I really need to cut it... But I love it so much.

Those cheeks and that neck. They are like little magnets that when exposed must be kissed if they are anywhere near me.

kids were here

I love the way kids think. They take anything normal or boring and make it into whatever they want it to be. Winter is definitely the winner of that sort of thing. She used to often make "soup" when she was 3 and 4 years old and I would find literally ANYTHING in her soup from puzzle pieces to socks to orange peels to whole onions to tiny little lego people. It has always been one of my top ten things I love about having kids. When they are in bed and the house is quiet, I often see little traces of them here and there. I've decided to keep an ongoing blog post about the things I see around my house that I find strange but also awesome because it proves that there was a kid here, doing what kids do.

Dish rag "blankets" on the dogs because what if they get cold?

Toy horses in the frying pan.

Blow dryers in the laundry hamper. Good thing I never get the chance to actually do my hair.

Crackers mixed in with the nuts.

 Doggies in the cake server. Good thing I never serve cake.

Stuffed animal powwows by my nightstand. This looks like a serious meeting.

I was looking for this croc all day.

Love notes on the knife holder 💓💓

...more to come =)

more descanso

This place (Descanso Gardens in La Canada) was in full bloom and pretty lovely last week...

Hey mama goose, you have four kids, I have four kids... we should hang out sometime.

Her gaggle and my gaggle... but hers are way more obedient. They just follow her. How does she do that?

I don't want my sweatshirt. I HATE my sweatshirt. I DON'T need it. She left it in the car. Then 5 minutes later, I'm SO COLD MOOOOOOMM!! So she's wearing Angus's. 

I took Addie to go potty and while I squatted down to get toilet paper, she exclaimed, "Wow mom!! You have BIG KNEES!!" I hadn't really thought about that before, but now every time I squat, I notice that my knees do grow quite a bit. =)

Okay get ready, I'm about to get deep. This picture reminds me that this little man is walking into a totally open field, not having any idea what lies ahead, much like he enters life, totally open with endless possibilities. I have no idea what his future holds... and it's scary but at the same time peaceful and a little exciting.

He looks so small.

We never come on the right day to ride the little train (Tuesdays and Saturdays), but we still enjoy walking on the tracks...

They all kind of look alike but are all SO different it's amazing.

Her new pet, 'Big Dude.'

grocery store epiphany

So, I was at Costco with Angus on Monday and realized something. I should ALWAYS have lollipops in my purse. I should always bring them to the grocery store with me. That and those stupid bags I ALWAYS forget. Like always. Why have I never made this a rule?? We are not big candy people. We rarely use it to bribe or reward our children. Potty training required big guns such as jelly bellies but other than that, we pretty much don't allow our kids to have sweets. That's more a rule that Dan is firm about and not so much me. But I enforce it because it sounds like a good rule.

But I think back to all of my grocery store catastrophes and seriously, they ALL could have been avoided with candy. I don't mean I'm going to reward bad behavior. I mean toddlers are devils disguised as angels, and the only way to make it out of Target, Vons, Albertsons and the dreaded Costco alive is with candy.

A week or so ago, I took Addie and Angus to Albertsons in the late afternoon. I know, rookie mistake. But I had to kill an hour during gymnastics and I needed milk. Okay beer. It was the worst grocery shopping experience ever. I don't even want to talk about because it makes my palms sweat. So I'll just sum up the last 5 minutes, even though my little people were being awful the whole time.

The lines were UBER long. I thought they had that little thing called three's a crowd... NOT!! More like 8 in every line. A saint of a lady let me go ahead of her because Addie was telling the whole store she had to go potty. Then the cash register/computer froze. Then I removed my card out too quickly when the machine told me to remove card she said. What?! And Angus was screaming and squirming out of my arms and yanking the card out of the little thingy you put your card in. And Addie was saying I GOTTA GO POTTY MOOOOMM! I kind of yelled at the cashier and told her my daughter was definitely going to pee all over the place like now if she didn't wrap it up like stat. She finally handed me my receipt. I threw Angus over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes which was pretty much the only way I could carry my squirmy fussy little man and loudly stated, "Worst shopping trip ever!" and speed walked to the bathrooms.

By some miracle Addie didn't pee all over the floor. She actually made it to the potty. More times than I can count, she has announced that she has to go potty then has proceeded to pee all over the bathroom floor. I've removed the rug from the bathroom permanently and occasionally bring it out when we have company.

ANYWHOOOO... the whole Albertsons situation could have been avoided with lollipops, I'm sure of it. Angus would have sat quietly in the front of the cart, Addie would have sat in the back, let me know she had to pee, then would have been too distracted by her lollipop to keep yelling at me. I wouldn't have been flustered and yelled at the cashier. Nobody around me would have been made uncomfortable by the crazy, frenzied mom with her tiny but loud 3-year-old yelling about the potty.

I DID take lollipops to Costco Monday on a whim on my way out the door. Angus is two and any shopping trip is pretty much hell after 20 minutes and I just cannot do Costco in 20 minutes with all the people and lines and samples. Oh the samples. Must stop at all sample stations. Yes, Costco was a BREEZE with lollipops. And I only used two tiny little ones. And Angus didn't even want the rest of his 2nd one. From now on, lollipops always.