Don't you just hate it when. . .

You're doing the dishes at 11pm, by HAND, because the "new" dishwasher your landlord ordered won't be in until Thursday and you just know that tomorrow morning someone's going to want breakfast, and you'd like it if your son waited until he was in college to figure out how to eat cold cereal with out any spoons,
when suddenly
 you feel like
 maybe
 you need to pee.  

But it's not that urgent, and it's probably just because of all the warm drippy water, and besides, you don't want to get sidetracked by that pressing article in the bathroom about how to handmake everything you've ever previously purchased at the store, 
so you press on.

Grrr, there's a lot of spoons in here!  

Then it happens, it sneaks up unexpected and because of your wet soapy dishwashing gloves you don't stop it in time. 

 ACHOOOOOO!!! 

Awwww crap, now I'm washing the dishes at 11pm and afterward I have to shower. . . .

No more Bleh

Well the feeling of "Bleh" has been overtaken by the feeling of sheer panic!  

My husband and I decided it was time to be closer to the things we love, our families.  This decisions end result is us moving far far away from Southern California to this place:

Idaho

So in two of the shortest weeks known to man, we're packing up and moving 1000 miles away!  No we don't have a cushy job waiting, we don't even have a place to live yet.  

But the blessings have been pouring out since we made this decision.  Our house being approved for short sale and sold this week were on top of the pile of blessings.  

It will all work out, and if it doesn't at least we'll be close to our families to come bail us out!!

I'm going to miss so much about California, where to begin. 

 The BEACH!  Really my favorite body of water, ever.  

Disneyland

Legoland

Sea world

San Diego zoo

all so close

The sun, we see a lot of it down here!

Our first home, where we first became parents.

My Doctors, they are seriously the best at what they do! 

 (getting me pregnant)

And then there are the friends. 

Some have been grafted into my heart as sisters forever.  They are the hardest thing to leave behind.  The every day companionship will be missed, but it's not a forever separation.

Things I won't miss are the $4.50/gallon at the pump

haze

lots of freeways with lots of people driving on them

the 1000 mile drive to visit family

termites, black widows, bees, rats, mice, gophers, and all other pests I'm going to assume don't live in Idaho.

So, there you have it, I'm not "bleh" anymore, yay me?

  

Uninspired. . .

I'm feeling "Bleh" lately, and my blog has suffered because of it! 

 I'm not creating, not even cooking much, so I don't feel like documenting.  I take pictures still, my kids have done great, cute things, I just feel "Bleh".

But this isn't for ME, it's for my family and friends, so here's some cuteness from my boys over the last two months:

Mason loves books!

 Dustin got older, this is his last year in his 30's!!

We picked blackberries, I guess Damen really liked the syrup I made from it.

We also made apple cider, it was GOOD!

Damen started first grade!

Dustin's brother and his three boys came to visit, this is Damen's "almost" twin cousin Ryan.

Here are all of the cousins together! 

I helped Damen clean out his room and found (scored) all of this candy!  He is strange, this never would have lasted in my room!

 Mason learned how to pull himself up and consequently, to walk.  He's quick and he's into EVERYTHING.  He thinks "No!" is an invitation to run away, throw something, or laugh at me.

A few nights ago at dinner Damen said, "MOM, I just took a drink of water, and my chicken was FLOATING!!  IN MY MOUTH!!"

He was so excited that he'd made his chicken float in his mouth, we laughed out loud!

Looking at these pictures and recalling the past few months is great therapy.  I love my boys so much!

10 & 11 months old!

This silly baby is 10 months old.  He's learned how to pull himself up and cruise around the furniture (this equals trouble).  He's so curious and into everything he can reach!

He started to get his first tooth, the top right one, it's painful :(

This cutie is 11 months old and is ALMOST walking, he's much more cautious about it than his older brother.  He has one tooth poking out and another on the way.  He's had another haircut!  He's getting picky about what he eats, maybe that's his new teeth bothering him.  He's got me wrapped around his chubby finger, and he knows it.

One more month and our baby will have his first birthday.  It's happened so quick!  

Oh how I love this little moose.

9 months old!

This boy is 9 months OLD!  Unbelievable.  It seems like such a short amount of time, and yet he's grown so much!

  He shouts "MAMAMAMA" a lot and we're pretty sure he means it.  He's mobile now, "crawling" isn't the right word, but he scoots along with the help of his toes and elbows.

Mostly he scoots after me, following me from room to room to room. . . .

 He loves this frog, mostly the eyes:)

And then there's the HAIR!

It is out of control so today he had his first ever hair cut!

I just did a trim, not too much, but what a difference it makes!

So, our big little baby is growing up!

My baby is 6!

It seems so surreal to think that six years ago this little boy was born, making me and Dustin parents!  

We had tried in vain for 6 long years to get pregnant so his arrival was much anticipated.  He was worth the wait.  

Damen is thoughtful, imaginative, a great big brother, and very inquisitive.  

He loves to build (Legos), swim, go to the beach, build forts, and play Lego Batman on the Wii.  

He will start 1st grade in this year!  

He still takes naps almost every day, not sure how that will go over with all day school.  

He tells us when it's past his bedtime, this kid likes his sleep!  

He loves fruits, vegetables, berries, and anything else as long as it has a side of ketchup, but not potatoes, no no no potatoes!

He tells us he loves us all day and if forced to will give hugs.  

He likes his personal space, don't sit next to him on the couch.

We love him so much, treasuring each day with this big kid.

Birthday morning present, Cat woman!

We went out to dinner that night, then gave him a bouncy ball (from Mason) and a new scooter when we got home.  

THE Lego party was on Saturday.  

The kids guessed how many legos were in a jar, played pin the head on the lego guy, and grab it with legos. 

The had a lego cake, ice cream, oreos, and per Damen's request, flavored licorice.

Damen had a great time and got lots of new Legos to keep him busy.

Oh how we love this kid.

This "big" 6 year old asked us if he goes to High School now that he's six!

Get a job?

So last month I signed up to be an independent consultant with Paparazzi Accessories.

Ok, so it's kind of a job, but mostly it's just FUN!  Seriously, how can you call selling gorgeous, inexpensive jewelry and hair accessories a job?  

  Every time I open a new shipment I'm a little sad that I have to sell it and can't keep it all for myself! (that would require a slightly larger jewelry box)  

Everything is $5. 

 That's right, EVERYTHING.  Necklaces(90% of them come with earrings), bracelets, earrings, rings, hair bows, and headbands.

I have really enjoyed accessorizing my friends, it makes me happy:)

Please contact me if you'd like to see more!!

Paper stars

Last week I got out my 5 patriotic decorations and decided I needed more.  So I found this super cute paper star tutorial in my July Family Fun magazine and went to work yesterday!  

They turned out really cute!

I hung three of them at the front door and Damen was sad because he wanted them hanging inside, so of course we(I) had to make three more!

Damen helped for a second, then it got hard.  

Then he got goofy.

My plan was to post a link to the tutorial here, but I CAN NOT find it!!  I even Googled it, nothing!  So, if directions are needed from anyone, please let me know and I'll see what I can do. 

They were easy and look great hanging form the AC vent in my kitchen too! (That's where Damen wanted it!) 

FOUND IT Click Here

8 Months old

Mason is 8 months old!  

I have not weighed or measured him lately, but take it from me, he's big!

Not crawling yet, no teeth, getting better at eating solids (and by "solids" I mean rice cereal the consistency of soup!), and he is very aware that no one else is Mommy!

He is such a sweet cuddler, loves his brother, and squeals louder than you'd think was possible when tickled. 

He's a sweet ray of sunshine!

Nanny Goats

Damens Kindergarten put on the cutest little show called the Nanny Goats Opera.

Three of the classes participated in the production and it was hilarious!

Damen was one of the Nanny goats that got to cross the bridge.

 See the scary troll?  He talked about this for weeks before and sang the songs all around the house.  He didn't' do much singing during the show, there was too much to look at!

The video is a bit grainy, we were far away, but was sure cute!

Teacher appreciation!

For the last day of school I wanted to do something nice for Damen's teacher.  He was really great with Damen and we were so happy having him be Damen's first school experience.  I started out with an idea to write a poem and transfer it to a plaque somehow.  I wrote up the poem then searched online and found this tutorial.  It was exactly what I wanted to do!

First I found these pictures that I've had for FOREVER.  I had even put two holes at the top to hang them by with my sisters Crop-a-dile because I was going to do something with them two years ago?  Anyway, I tried to remove the picture first, but it was glued on pretty tight to the chipboard so I ended up sanding it a bit instead.

 Then I painted it using white, black, and purple to get this aged black board kind of look.

Then the poem.  For this trick to work you have to print it using a "mirror" image, easier said than done my friends!  That took way, WAY too long to figure out, but my digital scrapbook program figured it out finally and on I went.

 Once it was transferred I had to fill it in a LOT with this tiny brush and some black paint.

I strung some Raffia through the holes and TaDa, a one of a kind Teacher gift for our favorite Kindergarten teacher! 

THE cake!

The other night Damen wanted to make his Daddy a cake.  Not just any cake, oh no, a VERY special cake.  While I was feeding Mason he went to the cupboard and got out the following:

Cake mix

food coloring

chocolate chips

ONE graham cracker

oreos

red and blue sprinkles

and strawberries from the fridge.

We started with the yellow cake mix, added chocolate chips to the batter then baked it.  When it was cool I realized I had about a Tablespoon of powdered sugar, so we improvised with a frosting that you cook, it was ok, but won't try again.  Damen picked the colors for the frosting, blue and green and directed me on how and where to frost it.  Then I was instructed to draw Batman on the blue part.  Damen was very specific, can you see him?  Next came the blue sprinkles put on the green hot lava.  

Then the desert, I had to crush the graham cracker for that part.  

Then the three, oops two (mommy ate one) strawberry mountains.

Next came the oreos, they were bombs being lobbed at Batman.

Last came a suspicious pile of red sprinkles, Damen couldn't explain what that was for.

And there you have it, a very tasty, very special cake for Daddy:)

PS the chocolate chips all sank to the bottom and made a lovely crust, and except for the frosting Damen did all of the decor by himself!

Disneyland!

Wahoo!  We all went to Disneyland for Mason's first time a few weeks ago, he did great!  We only had one day to visit both Disneyland and California Adventure so we decided to focus on doing our favorite things and then fit in some more.  It was also our last trip for a while since it's gotten so expensive and it's hard to justify the cost.  We had fun enjoying the rides, the food, the happy place that it is!

 Mason was eating Dustin, but this was the best picture we got!

 Damen claims his favorite ride is Pirates.

 Mason wearing Mickey Ears!  And conked out finally!

 The tastiest and maybe most expensive Churros ever!

 Heading home, we left around 8pm, as you can see Damen was done walking and Mason had to be carried, he's not exactly "light".

Mason got this Mickey "chew" toy, we all got T-shirts and Damen picked out a Star wars toy for himself.  

Aaa, fun times, good memories made!