Paper Construction by Riley

We did a little "craft time" last night.

I pencil drew a basic dinosaur outline on a blank piece of white cardstock. Then Riley cut out pieces of green patterned paper and glued them over the outline. He also drew the facial features and signed it, then I went over everything with a Sharpie. I think he did a great job! We matted them and framed them and the dinosaurs are hung up in our hallway right now. I love them :)

Seven.

So, she's seven now!
No High School Musical 2 on TV, though... I think we got our dates mixed up for that. Papa and Mamalali came over and we had pizza (Violet's choice) for dinner, followed by cake, ice cream, and puzzles and games.So much better than TV... and a perfectly fun and happy day!

From Riley... to Violet

Happy birthday to my favorite friend who makes me laugh and laugh all the time :)

Violet's birthday party

Violet had a pool party again this year for her 7th birthday (which technically isn't till Tuesday, but that's okay!)

My cousin Leslie came over to be in charge of games and entertaining the kids. Let me just say that was a completely fantastic idea. She kept them entertained, they were all happy, and I could focus on other things. Perfect!

First there was a water balloon fight...


And Rick was showing off ;)


Then more water games - Riley was totally into them!


The birthday girl getting completely soaked by Leslie!!


The Aunties greeting me in Korean ;)


And the cake - she requested cupcakes this year. :)


Of course guess which one was hers!


After cake and presents, one last dip in the pool!


She got a Target giftcard, a Justice giftcard, some cute clothes, Polly Pockets, skate shoes, Barbies, and a new watch! Woohoo!! :) She can't wait for her actual birthday on Tuesday cause I guess it's the premiere of High School Musical 2! YEEEE HAAAAA!

Fine, Shontell.

Here is my update.

I got Rick a ping pong top for the pool table for his birthday, and proceeded to beat him constantly. Cause I am that good.

We need to get rid of the chandelier hanging above the table otherwise Rick will be constantly using it as "interference" instead of just losing fair & square ;)

Then Mel came over yesterday to try her hand at it.
I beat her too.

OH YEAH THAT IS RIGHT!!!!!!

So... update on the kids....

Violet had Field Day at school...

This meant LOTS of running,

hula-hooping,

popsicle-eating,

and getting WET!

Riley has started mastering the monkey bars! Check out his mad skills...


Ohhhhh yeah!

Here's a pic of Violet from Drill team tryouts - her friend didn't make it onto the team with her. Must've been the number.

I enrolled Violet into a day camp for the next 3 weeks, and it's awesome. All performing arts stuff. Ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop dancing, musical theatre, gymnastics, and cheerleading. She goes from 9am-3pm every day. It's over by Rick's office so he takes her and picks her up. Every day she is completely exhausted and sweaty, but oh so happy! And every day she falls asleep ("rests her eyes") on the way home. It is seriously the perfect camp for her!

Also... since Violet has a summer birthday, she got to celebrate it with her class on the last week of school. We brought cupcakes and ice cream in those little plastic cups with the wooden spoons. Her request. I totally remember loving those things as a kid. Let me tell you that the lovin' isn't there as an adult. lol

Violet with Mrs. Kaiser :)

OH.
And the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.
So.
Riley and I got there about 20 minutes early to say goodbye, hug everyone, and thank Mrs. Kaiser for a great year. Riley was sitting next to Violet while I was standing nearby talking to Mrs. Kaiser. And I heard him say, "Violet - DON'T TELL MOM." So I looked over... and he was pulling something out of his pocket.

AN EGG.
A raw egg.
FROM HIS POCKET.
I cannot believe it somehow made it from fridge to car to classroom without getting broken.
So I asked that precious son of mine... "Why, honey, do you have an EGG at SCHOOL???"

And his response?
"I wanted you to hot boil it for me, Mommy!"

Isn't he precious?

So last night, in the car, on our way to Home Depot, Riley pipes up from the back seat...
"Dad, can you make me a hot-boiled egg tonight?"

To which I responded...
"DO YOU HAVE AN EGG IN YOUR POCKET???"

Time for an update...

Neighbors are installing a new heavy duty door... they are doing much better now. Still haven't caught the thieves though.

School is out TOMORROW. What on earth am I going to do all summer? I have Violet in performing arts day camp for the rest of June and Riley starts gymnastics and tumbling in mid-June. Otherwise it will be a lot of seeking out ways to cool off!

Melinda and Luke come back the 15th!!!! YAY!!!!! They will only be here for the weekend and then they start their big surf trip up the California coast. We will see them again at the end of July when we go on our vacation (vaction) in San Clemente.

Violet is very proud to report that she made THE DRILL TEAM at her school! The parent meeting is this afternoon so I will find out all it entails for next year. There were a LOT of girls trying out for only 4 spots and I was pretty sure she would not make it - but she proved me wrong and I am pretty glad about that!

I beat Melissa at ping pong, not once, but TWICE, the other night.

Rick gave me the best birthday present ever (don't worry folks, my birthday is in July)...July 4-8 I get to fly to Portland to visit Miss Valerie for 5 whole days!!!! YAY!!!

I am proud to report that I am completely on top of my laundry situation. Since Saturday. This is a new record for me!

I am not, however, on top of my weight situation. Still trying to figure out the best diet/exercise for me that also lets me eat cookies when I want ;)

I have a photo shoot, cousin Michael's birthday party, and Violet's birthday party scheduled on Rick's birthday. That should be interesting!

Did I tell you guys that I got a new computer?? It's freaking RAD. It is sooo fast and finally I can edit photos without sitting around waiting for each little action to process. YAY for technology!!!

Ok - gotta go start my Day of A Million Committments! :) Have a great one!

Freaked

Today the house across the street was broken into. The police officer's house. The family had gone out for the day at about 10 am and returned about 7 pm. Sometime between those hours the door was kicked in and stuff was stolen. Including one of his guns. Someone was at our house all day long. And we didn't hear anything. Our neighbor was burglarized and we heard nothing. I feel sick and nothing even happened to me. :(


I can't imagine how they feel right now - or how their kids feel.

Retreat is...

Time with friends...


Even the scary ones!


Old ladies in red socks...


Other friends wielding crochet hooks...


Terrified waiters...


Time to ponder...


Or get your neck adjusted.


My unsuccessful attempt at creating a scarf that didn't look as though it was covered in tumors...


Being sassy in the mirror...


And even getting a chance to see God change a life for good.






awesome. :)

FACT: Bears eat beets.

Okay seriously if you do not watch The Office you are missing the funniest thing on television. Just the other week, though, my absolute.most.favoritest.scene.ever happened. Jim came into the office dressed as Dwight. He is always pulling pranks on Dwight, but this one was so stinking funny. The best part, though, wasn't the scene itself. It was the fact that Riley was watching it with me and also thought it was hysterical. I was of course tivo'ing it, so we watched it like 5 times in a row, each time cracking up more than before.

Here is a link to the scene on YouTube in case you missed it... JIM AS DWIGHT
And then it was Sunday.
We were on our way to my parents' house for Mother's Day when Rick was telling me some sort of story, and ended it with "Fact."

And from the back seat we hear Riley in retort: "Bears eat beets."

It was all we could do to keep the car on the road at that point, we were laughing so hard. Turns out he pretty much could recite the entire scene word for word. So we had the kids perform it for Liane and Carl when we got to the party. And we decided Riley needs to dress as Dwight As Played By Jim for Halloween. ;)

I need to videotape the kids doing it. It is so hysterical!

We were *those* people

Liane and I were at Hallmark the other day.
Seriously I haven't been in Hallmark in a good 4 years cause I just can't bring myself to buy a card when I have a room full of scrapbook supplies. But we were out and about and decided to stop in there.

Oh my word.

Have you *SEEN* those cards that make sounds? The ones with music or movie quotes? They are freaking hysterical. And of course Liane and I were standing there, in the noisy card section, looking at every.single.one. Laughing, reminiscing, thinking of who we just *had* to get that card for...

And then it dawned on me.
We were being *those* people.
The annoying ones.
The ones that sit there in Hallmark and open every card and look at them. Like it is the greatest thing ever. The ones that the cashiers have to smile and nod at cause they want you to buy a $5 card cause it sings to you.

When we got up to the register I apologized profusely to the cashier. She was very sweet, saying it was no big deal and everyone does it. But I am sure as soon as we lrft she was thankful for thesilence in her store once again.

Yep.

:)

Baby Sage

Meet the little baby girl that has captured the hearts of our children:

Her name is Sage, and she is Liane and Carl's foster puppy. A month ago, when Liane and Carl rescued her, she was literally on death's door. She had been stuck at an overcrowded animal shelter and ended up contracting distemper. Because of the infectious nature of the disease, Sage had to be quarantined in a tiny little room - no bigger than a walk-in shower - with little to no interaction with dogs or even people all day. She stopped eating and could barely stand, much less walk. She was literally on death's door - and the Las Vegas Weim Rescue Club was just hoping that someone would take her home so she wouldn't have to die in that tiny room without anyone. Liane and Carl have the biggest hearts - and such a love for dogs - that they couldn't imagine that happening to a sweet pup like her. They agreed to take her home and make her last few weeks (she was given, at the most, two months to live) special.

Well as you can see, Sage is a completely different dog now. Signs of her disease have all but disappeared (she still can't be around other dogs yet - but the vets say it's only a matter of time before she can), she is healthy and happy, and she loves to romp around and play. And my children love her more than they have ever loved a dog before. Violet makes Sage artwork to hang in her "room" in their house, Riley always asks when we can visit Sage, and the kids just love cuddling with her, petting her, and playing with her whenever they see her. I am completely confident that Sage will make a full recovery - and then Liane and Carl can adopt her and be her "forever family". :)

Isn't she just adorable?

Interesting dream

So on Monday evening, Riley says to me "Mom - did you know that last night when I was sleeping I talked to God?"

Really? What did you talk to God about?

"God showed me what Heaven looked like!"

Tell me about it!

"It was so cool! With lots of RAINBOWS! And there was a jumper too so you could play."

Awesome! Did you see any people there?

"Yeah, but they were mostly sleeping. Some of them were playing too. And I saw Moker and Guard dog there, and they were playing with the kids!"

Totally awesome! Heaven sounds fantastic!

"I LOVED Heaven! It was really cool."

Jessica Junior.

This girl is incredible. And amazing. And frustrating. And overwhelming. All at once.
She is me, shrunken down to 4 foot size. With the same voice I had, and the same attitude too.
She is brilliant - just like I used to be ;)
At the same time, she is sassy. Just like me.
She and I butt heads.
A lot.
I know it's because I see stuff in her that reminds me of me.
And while a lot of that stuff is great:
her creativity.
her imagination.
her outgoing personality.
her silliness.
her love for her brother...
a lot of it isn't, either.
The temper.
The attitude.
The yelling.
The drama.
And this is why, I think, I am really hard on her. Harder on her than I am on Riley. Because I see things in her I don't want to see... the stuff I don't like about myself. The stuff I wish were different about me. I want her to be better than that. I want her to be more than that. I want her to be less of me and so much more of her. So that when I look at her I see the best of me all the time.

(sorry I know I was supposed to have something funny to post - and I will - I just had to write this stuff down, for me)

Remember when

I wanted to do a funny post with photos but Blogger was dumb and wouldn't let me?

yeah.
I do too.

Spring Break... girls' style!

Every year Melissa and I take a fun road trip or something for Spring Break... well, this year it wasn't in our budget so we decided to see what kind of fun we could have in town. After a few phone calls to Dear Old Dad who hooked us up with free show tickets and a hotel room, we knew that we would have a great time! We invited Erin to join us but she ended up being detained in Sacramento (I thought that would at least sound a little scandalous, eh Erin?)... It wasn't exactly our plan, but we rolled with it. Here are some photo highlights of Spring Break Oh Seven...

Melissa and I met for coffee in the morning...


Followed by scalp massages and hairstyles at the Academy of Hair Design...


And pedicures too!! We spent almost FIVE hours there!


Afterward as we had Hot Dog on a Stick for lunch, we learned that Erin couldn't get a flight out and we were totally bummed! So we called our pal Diedre who was more than happy to have a fun night out with the girls! All was going well until the babysitter called at about 3 to tell me that Violet was running a crazy high fever and just started vomiting everywhere. YAY. Back home I went to take care of her till Rick could get there... turned out she was suffering from a bit of heat exhaustion cause the kids had all gone and spent the entire morning at the park but Violet hadn't had a drop of water to drink. And it was in the 90s. So we hydrated her a ton, gave her a bath, and let the meds bring down her fever. Back on the road by 4:30 p.m.

Melissa and I had to pick up our tickets to Ka at least an hour before the show - so we drove straight to the MGM. We wanted to get the tickets and then go to our hotel (the Luxor) to check in there and change before the 7pm show. Traffic was fine until we got to the left turn lane to get into the hotel. No joke we were waiting there through THREE lights cause people kept blocking the intersection. So I jumped out of the car, jaywalked across the road, and jumped a 3 foot fence (in heels! LOL!) to get into the hotel. I got the tickets, met Mel out front (she finally got through the intersection) and we went to the Luxor.

It was now just after 6 pm - we needed to check in, change, and get back to the MGM to meet Deidre at 6:45... we valet parked the car and told the valet we were just running in and would be right out after we got ready for the show. We got our room - a nice one on the 17th floor (yay! Thanks Dad!) and Mel and I got ready in our sassy dresses in record time. We headed down to the car when Mel realized out front that she left her valet ticket in her other purse. I told her let's hope the valet remembers us - and luckily he did!!! Not only that, he kept the car out front with the ferraris! LOL! By this time it was 6:45 and Deidre was waiting for us... so we got on the road (the hotels are really close, thank goodness!)... and it was when we turned onto LV Blvd that I realized that I left something in my other purse... THE TICKETS TO THE SHOW!!! AAAAAAH!!!! We had to turn back... and I ran out, went upstairs, got them, and got back into the car. By now Deidre is calling us saying "I look like a dork standing here all alone! Where are you???" and of course it is like a minute to 7. With all the crazy mishaps that had happened so far we were starting to wonder if this trip was meant to be a reality for us...

But it was. We got to the MGM and valet was open right up front - we made it to the show which had *just* started, and we had awesome seats... as you can see...

It was AMAZING. This was my favorite part. There is something about this crazy contraption that is so stinking cool. And when those crazy Ruiz-brother-looking dudes spin around in that thing - JUMPING ROPE - ON THE OUTSIDE - it is incredible!!!


Afterward, we went to the New York-New York and had dinner at the mexican restaurant Gonzales y Gonzales... mmmm! Margaritas!


Being completely silly in the bathroom after dinner...


And then having a completely random "photo shoot" in the fake doorways of the fake New York City... :)

Deidre is so beautiful!


*snort* this was the only acceptable shot of me... haha


This photo makes me insanely happy :)
We were having soooo much fun even though the people sitting at the table just to the right of Mel here were not as happy as us. Too bad for them!


Then we moved the photoshoot outside onto the bridge...


Woohoo!


Deidre let her hair down... hee hee


I wanted to try a slow shutter speed with Mel standing still and people walking around her all blurry. The problem is that everyone wanted to be a helpy-helperton and stop while I was shooting. sigh. Oh and then there were the random people that decided Mel must be someone famous or something cause they were also taking her photo. hahaha! But we ended up with one that I kinda liked....


By this time it was midnight and we were ready for some dancing - Studio 54 was open in the MGM so we headed on inside :)


Lots o dancing - lots o scantily clad ladies... and this little bit of eye candy for us. We called him the Michael Jackson guy. He danced really well... and he really REALLY loved his own body. haha


We danced till about 2:00 and then decided to call it a night cause our feet felt like they were going to explode. Fortunately there is a 24 hour Starbucks at the MGM so we stopped there to rest our weary feet. And while we were sitting there some creepy guy that was waaaay too old for us with a fake foreign accent decided to try and strike up a conversation with us. So we all gave him fake names. We weren't Deidre, Melissa, and Jessie. We were Audra, Michelle, and Stevie. HAHAHAHAHA He finally left us alone after we gave him major hints that we were in no way interested in talking to him.

Finally we started feeling the effects of the night and knew it was time to get to bed - Deidre had to drive home and Mel and I went to the hotel. We closed the blackout shades and crawled into our respective beds. And didn't move from those spots till 10:30 in the morning!! I woke up and thought to myself how annoying it is to have to pee in the middle of the night... till I looked at the clock and saw the time. Let me just say that the blackout shades at the Luxor are freaking AMAZING. We had no idea it was daylight outside!!

Unfortunately, check out was at 11, so we didn't get to have a leisurely morning at the hotel - we packed up, checked out, and went to breakfast at a local restaurant called "Egg Works." I had lots of coffee ;)


After breakfast, we headed to the local tattoo/piercing parlor for my Spring Break Oh Seven souvenir...




No, it didn't hurt any more than when you get a needle prick from giving blood... but my eye and nose wouldn't stop watering afterward.


Here I am giving advice to my piercing dude on how to change the f-stops on his camera :)


After the Great Nose Piercing of 2007, Mel and I went to the movies and saw Blades of Glory. HAHAHAHAHA that movie is soooo stinking FUNNY!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA Seriously completely hysterical. And even better when afterward we stop at DQ for some Blizzard action ;)


And that, my friends, is how Girls Weekend goes with Jessie.
Don't you want to join me next year?? ;)