Good Fortune

We bribed Bert and his daughter (and her boyfriend) to help us move the last of the furniture from the old house onto the truck by taking them out to Pearl House. My day up until that point was miserable with Isaac's tantrums but my fortune cookie had some good advice for me.

Big Girl Nap

Evelyn decided she didn't want to sleep in her crib (I've been wanting to convert it to the toddler bed anyway) she wanted to sleep on her mattress like a big girl. She's absolutely precious but I'm not sure I'm actually ready for her to grow up like this yet....

Shoe Hand

I am in my own personal happy place. Shopping at Target on Madison and they have tons of thins on clearance. I got rugs, place mats, furniture, all the school supplies, odds and ends for the house, and several other things from our list. Evelyn had to come with me and considering it was a 2 hour trip she did amazing! She did teach me that as well as the socks that have always belonged on her hands, shoes belong on her hands as well.

Parkway Walk

Kim got the boys early today so I took the babies for a walk to the park. They had fun climbing and sliding, but the playground was covered in sand and Evelyn did not like sand in her shoes. Before we headed home we stopped to play in the grass under the shade of a tree for some water and an opportunity for me to steal a few photos of the babies together. A couple of young girls (5&6) spotted us and came over to show the babies how to roll down a hill and whisper secrets in my ear. Very nice girls, but I was unable to get the pictures I hoped for before we ran out of time and had to go home.

Fair Food

Quite a day and I had much to say so I posted it on the family blog.

Perfectly planned day to the State fair with my free tickets.

The kids and I saw so many things and had a really great time.

I would of put us all in our tie dye shirts because it makes spotting each other very easy in large crowds but today was the day they went back to Kims house so I put them in her clothes instead.

When Cliff and I got home we took a shower with Evelyn and she ended up pooping in the shower and then singing about it, "I pooped in the shower!" over and over. I saw the humor and I was very grateful it was in our new large shower and not our old teeny tiny shower or in a bath. Evelyn however, was not happy to learn that pooping in the shower did not earn her a num nums.

All the pictures

Sneaking Out to the Fair

I got the opportunity to sneak out to the state fair with the kids today with my free tickets from the local country station. Normally I buy a poppy pack (4 tickets, 4 monorail tickets, and a parking pass for $40) and I usually go several times but since we're in the middle of moving it didn't seem very bright to spend money on tickets that I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use. I was happy however, that Cliff and I found a way to make my free tickets work for me and that I was able to enjoy the fair as much as I normally do. 

Our plan, was for me to take all the kids in the morning (okay, afternoon, it doesn't open until 12 anyway), have Kim pick up the boys from the fair (probably around 4:30), then for Cliff to pick up Evelyn after work (around 5:30), and for me to be able to see whatever else I may not have been able to with the kids in tow. 

Our plan, was pretty much perfect. All the kids slept in, Isaac until just before 10am, so we had a light breakfast (or in Isaac's case-not eat at all), I packed lunch, and we headed to the fair. Parking was crazy, but I got really lucky and found a nice spot, not too far away pretty easily. And, I didn't have to try to parallel park, I was able to just pull in!

It was the perfect day to be at the fair. Not too busy, not too hot, and a nice breeze rolling through. This years attraction was 'big bugs'. Ick! The boys like it. I thought it was gross and Evelyn was a little scared. Really lifelike, very large, very ugly bugs. And also, some real creepy crawlies like scorpions and tarantulas. 

The kids and I went to camp Smokey first and each of the kids earned a Smokey the Bear Bandanna after we finished all the school houses. It was nice getting to do it this year when it wasn't so super crowded like last year. 

We headed over to the baby animals but the attraction was closed for the day. Boo. They had a farm life kids activity area set up where you could 'clean' a pen of animals, saddle a horse, play music, dress up like a cowboy, ride in tractor races, and milk a cow. All toys of course, but it kept all the kids entertained for a decent amount of time. We also went through the farm and looked at the big cows and silly goats, but it just wasn't as interesting or fun as the babies so we moved onto the garden to get all of our stamps there. They made it much smaller this year, but they put in some new plants like rice. It's always fun to show kids what their food looks like as a plant when they wouldn't have recognized it at all.  

My sunflowers weren't nearly as impressive this year, but I still love them so I took a quick photo as the kids ran though.

Oh my goodness, Evelyn wanted to touch every waterfall she saw, and of course, non of them are touchable. That girl is obsessed. Even the little water flow at the top of the touchable fish area she was obsessed over. When she saw her brothers touch the sturgeon she wanted to touch one too... that is, until it swam right at her. Then she was all done with the fish tanks. 

In the counties exhibits they had a mini f-16 that the kids were able to sit in. Evelyn just had to sit with Alex. 

When the boys went home Evelyn and I headed to one of my favorite areas to look in the buildings. The attraction this year was Golden Fairs and Rock-U. I was not a fan. As for the photography it fell flat this year, very little actually intrigued me. The cheese sample was good like always, but the bee people were very busy so I just skipped it. I took Evelyn into Fur and Feathers so she could see the bunnies and we found out we got to pet chinchillas! She did great and they were so soft, I couldn't believe it!

Since I had one ticket left I conned Cliff to join me at the fair so he could get fresh funnel cake. He chose instead an ice cream cone and then we got two ears of BBQ corn and a large lemonade. We did pass the deep fried butter and I think just seeing that sign grossed me out enough that I wanted nothing to do with anything else deep fried. Plus, Alex and I had earlier split a nutella banana crepe and I was pretty sweet-ed out. 

I wanted to get proof that Cliff went to the fair, even if only for an hour, but there just wasn't anywhere worth while to take a picture (and not be in the sun) so no hard proof. When we walked back to the car though Evelyn, who hadn't napped all day, was being so cute. Leaning all proper like in the front of her stroller and she was so happy when Daddy picked her a flower. 

I got my moneys worth out of my coupon book, but I don't think I'll get it next year. Finding the exact booth that takes that exact coupon was a really big pain in the butt. For example, even though there were about 5 fresh squeezed lemonade stands only one of them took a coupon, and there's dozens of BBQ corn stands but again, only 1 took a coupon. The stands had names and numbers that were supposed to help you, but it was so obscure it didn't help me at all. Most the coupons I was able to use were just pure luck that I found the right place. 

All in all, I normally spend 40 (or more) dollars just to get into the fair every year when I buy my Poppy Pack. Then I always get a fried food and sweet treat (another $6-$8 each). This year my tickets were free and I chose to walk in place of paying for parking. I got more food than I normally do but I still kept it under $40. It's like I went to the fair and had all that fun, entirely for free.

Where'd My Kitchen Go?

Last night Evelyn decided she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed even though we haven't put it together yet, so she went to sleep all alone in her room on just her mattress. I slept like crap because I kept worrying about her, but she did great. She did fall off the mattress (not meant to be alone like that) and that upset her a little, but she got back in and went back to sleep. Until early this morning, probably when the sun was shining in her room where we forgot to put the curtain back up, when she went to our bedroom door and layed down on the floor. She looked so pathetic and sad when I got her. She came back and snuggled in bed this morning and then around 9am literally pushed Cliff out of bed.

It was another long day packing the old house up and we're still not done. Bert again came and helped us out (do you see a pattern here?) but when we realized he was missing lots of time with his daughter we sent him home and finally called my brother to come assist us unload the truck. It was great having him and his family over. They brought us dinner (and Cliff discovered Little Caesars Pizza is actually really good with fresh basil on it) and all the kids got a chance to play together for a few hours. Something I know my kids really needed and we just haven't been able to do.

While at the old house Evelyn discovered her birthday toys that we never gave her so he opened her presents and went to sleep tonight on the couch cuddling her new night light friend.

The old house is so close to being done and yet somehow I've lost my kitchen again under a new mound of boxes. Where did we keep all this stuff?! It makes me think of a video I saw many years ago by George Carlin...


My own little pile of stuff with a cover on it.

Reconnected to the World

Comcast came yesterday (and since Cliff didn't move the TV in time Debby and I had the joy of moving that 200 pound beast from the old house to the new house. I was really grateful the guy didn't need to have it upstairs to finish the installation) and hooked up the internet to Cliff's computer. I called them today to find out when the router they were supposed to send me would arrive and they told me it wasn't ordered. Quality work people.

I'm not a patient person, and since I had to go to frys to return a video card anyway I picked up a router, and a wireless receiver for my computer in case we decided to move it to somewhere else in the house. It was very challenging, but I have internet on my computer! It only took 6 phone calls, an hour and a half talking to India, and half a bottle of rum turned daiquiris to keep me sane, but I have internet and a working wireless router. Oh the joys of outsourcing.

Cliff packed up the old house and did another huge load to the new house. He is a good man.

My great news for the day: Comcast rules! We were always having issues with u-verse and not getting the download speeds they promised us (we were paying for 18Mbps, most days barely pulling 8Mbps) but with comcast our service is GREAT!

I know you're jealous 

I have to be honest, I didn't even realize these speeds were possible without fancy equipment and lots of money.

I have a kitchen?!

Mom and Debby came over again today (can't begin to explain how much I needed them today!) to help me in the house. Debby got all the sprinklers fixed and on a working timer (quite a feat since the previous owners cut the wire!) and finished getting all the green waste in the can. She also fixed the broken pipe in the front of the house that has been leaking since we first started looking at the house 7 months ago. 

Mom, after scrubbing me a beautiful bathtub that I can finally bathe in, helped me put my kitchen together. She finished lining the cupboards I hadn't gotten to yet, cleaned the inside of the icky oven so that now I can actually prepare meals in my home, and empty the boxes putting the kitchen stuff away. We emptied about 10 boxes and had a beautiful, functioning, clean kitchen at the end of the night. 

She also assisted me with my french memory boards for the kids. Then I realized it's a bit more of a task than I first planned, but we got it off to a good start. 

My new kitchen light

When it got too hot outside, Debby came inside and installed my pretty lamp that Mom helped me pick out at Home Dept. When we moved into the house the 3 things I hated the most (besides the pure dirtiness) was the black stained carpet, the fact that the dining room area is carpeted, and the really ugly low hanging lamp they had in the kitchen. 2 out of 3, not bad!

I'm speechless with how much work and love has gone into our home. I'm finally feeling like there is a purpose and an ending in sight (although I'm aware it's far away). 

I have a real kitchen and a beautiful backyard that essentially takes care of itself! How could I be any more blessed?!

Hamburgler

Last night for dinner we had more fast food. Yuck. As a kid I would only order cheese burgers because my family thought it was funny when I'd say hamburger and it would come out hamburgler. I hated it then, but I get it now. 

Evelyn called it a Hambugubugubuger. It was so precious. I managed to get a recording of it before she got it right, but every time it got a little shorter. One less bugubuh in the word. 

Kitchen Janitorial Yard

Again, God bless a good family. Mamaw and Debby stopped by to help clean and put my house together today.  I needed it! Mom brought over her magic tools and cleaned bathrooms that I was still afraid of in a matter of minutes. And it looked 10Xs better than my 3 hour job! Magic tools however, have an ending and my bathrooms ate them. Debby went to work on the backyard and Mom and I ran to the janitorial supply store for more magic items. It's crazy how expensive just a few items can be, but they were worth it! Not only do I know that my rooms are clean, but they are finally starting to look clean as well!

I gave Debby carte blanche in my backyard and I'm so thrilled with what she's done. It actually looks like a yard now instead of an overgrown dying jungle! She worked her butt off in the crazy heat and it shows. She literally removed a tree! But, she said she's not done so her and mom are coming back tomorrow.  Cliff and I were in such awe over the difference that he couldn't wait to show it off to Bert- who again, drove all the way out here to help us move. I love that man. Best brother I never had- even though he's Cliff's cousin by marriage now removed... he's a brother in my heart.

Mom also helped me figure out my yellow issue in my guest bathroom. She's confident we can fix it and I'm very grateful for the help. She's planning on bringing some samples tomorrow.

I really felt kind of useless today. I got stuff put away, but Mom made miracles happen scrubbing my bathrooms, and Debby transformed my yard. This is where I just have to step back, and say a very big Thank You. This is what family is for and I indeed have the best.

First Knight

We got all the essentials (fridge!) brought over and we were rewarded with getting to spend our first night here. The neighbors have all been wonderful and the boys had their first play date today with the kids on the corner. It was so strange for me when Isaac asked if he could go meet the neighbors and I had no qualms about it. Almost every house has come over to say hello and welcome us to the neighborhood, it's such a wonderful change from stuck up, poo throwing rocklin. I'm still unfamiliar with the area but I love my house!

Bert, again, came to the rescue. He and his daughter stayed up very late and helped us move our fridge, our freezer, our beds, and most of the major living stuff we hadn't yet moved. We had enjoyed our first night  here and although it's not done, it already feels like home.

We actually moved their bed frames in too, but I had my camera before that happened, not after

No Noah

I didn't have Noah today so I spent it moving with kids. Isaac was in a total mood and Evelyn had a nasty stomach flu making her very crabby so I accomplished very little. I hate to say it, but I feel like the day was totally wasted. We're still at our old house.

Paint, Wall Scrubbing, and a Pressure Washer

Thank God for good family. I, have the best.

Melissa came down this morning to help me paint for an hour (lucky me she was able to stay almost all day). Dad also came down with the pressure washer and got to work on my backyard. Cliff called Bert to come out and help but the truck battery went dead last night so we left it here, then this morning he forgot his car keys so he had to run home to get them. He chose instead to switch my car for the work truck, take that home to get truck keys and load it up with all the big stuff solo, then come to the new house to unload. Silly, but it worked out somehow.

Melissa showed me how to paint the kids hideous rooms with primer and then our paint colors. She helped me see my previous color choices weren't great, and did both ceilings for me. I love her!
*I should add that she stayed a bit longer than she planned knocking out all the paint in Evelyn's room for me... which in turn inspired me to stay up until *ahem* 4am finishing the trim and closets in the boys room so that their first day back would be exciting!*

New paint replaced hideous red ceiling and orange and red walls. Yes, I painted the closet too

Dad cleaned up the back yard and made the back of the house more approachable. It was covered in so much animal muck you didn't want to go near it, but now it's much better. He even pulled apart our BBQ and started cleaning it for us and let us borrow the pressure washer so we could finish what was left.

Bert and his 16yo daughter scrubbed my downstairs walls with TSP. Again, I have the best family. I was SO grateful for all the help and I feel SO accomplished right now.

This whole weekend neighbors have been stopping by and introducing themselves and welcoming us to the neighborhood. This is such a great change from the hellish neighbors we're leaving behind. Our direct neighbors even brought us a couple of cold drinks yesterday because he didn't think we had our 'box' yet and it was a really hot day. I'm so happy we got this house!

Perkos

In search of food Cliff, Bert, and myself wound up in a Perkos near the house. True to name, everyone seemed to be in incredible moods. We were very hungry and the food was satisfying enough, and then she offered us dessert. It wasn't on the menu, but it was pictured so I got it.
Sugar overload. But yummy.

New Kitty

The previous jerks who used to own our house left their cats behind, and from what our neighbors tell us, they were locked in the garage for a number of days in high heats. I'm very grateful we didn't buy a house with kitty corpses....

We found their kitty 'Bell' first. She's very sweet and tolerant so we'll probably be keeping her. We've renamed her "Berty". Very funny when people think our kids are talking about a birdie in the house, and not a cat.

The other cat "Sweetie" doensn't like Berty at all and she has the most annoying meow. She'll sit under our windows crying for someone, then when you come outside she runs away, only to come back and do it again. Annoying.

We were very fortunate this morning and were able to schedule someone to come clean the carpets and have someone change the many locks.

We started calling carpet cleaning places and the first guy we spoke to was amazing! He was super knowledgeable and was telling us how to help treat some of our problem areas before we ever even told him we wanted to hire him. To add to he awesomeness, he was the owner and took our call while out having coffee with his wife. It was the kind of business etiquette Cliff uses. We hired him for both houses without even calling anyone else. I'm so grateful too, he did an AMAZING job! The carpets were so disgusting I wanted nothing to do with them and although some areas are obviously still grey from the heavy traffic and the fact that the owners NEVER seemed to vacuum, they are sterile, odorless, and such a huge improvement!

One of the 'before' pictures

I was also able to get someone from Pop-a-Lock to come re-key the house. They did the duplex we were in (took 2 and a half hours for 3 locks, and 1 of them seriously broke a few months later) so I gave them a call. Turns out you get a referral discount and the guy that came this time did all 8 locks in about 40 minutes. He was really great too. I like it when people who come to work on/in/at your house have good personalities.

It was such a treat to see the Advanced Carpet Cleaning truck in my driveway, and the Pop-a-Lock in front of my house. Had I not been so crazy busy I might have taken a picture.

Bert, Cliff, and I chose an area to clean and spent the next 3 hours working on it. Bert made our wash room spotless (amazing people actually cleaned stuff in such filth), I scrubbed the downstairs bathroom and it still looked foul, and Cliff scrubbed the outside and behind the stove and it was still greasy. We worked really hard, it didn't seem fair to accomplish so little.

Daisy Plate

We conned Bert to help us move and clean with dinner at The Pearl House. Really scrumptious food and huge portions. I know it's wrong, but I think I'm in love with these plates. Blue daisies! What could be better?

Lemon Heaven

Ending a very exciting and busy week, I took Evelyn up to stay with Mamaw and Grandma Debby for the weekend and while up there we took all the kids to the Grass Valley Children's Festival.  We had a great time last year, and now that Evelyn is old enough to actually participate I was really excited about it. I think Alex is outgrowing tolerance for such a simple thing, but with Mamaw and Grandma Debby there we were able to divide the kids and let them each pick the activities they wanted to do.

Before heading home Grandma Debby noticed a favorite childhood treat that she hasn't seen as an adult. Peppermint lemons. I thought she was crazy, until she got one for all of us and I tried it for myself. Pure heaven. I went back and got 3 more so I could share with Cliff and Bert when they came over that night.

The not so glorious part of my day: I backed into a guy at a stop light heading to the new house. My first 100% at fault accident. No one got hurt, but he had a little meep meep car and I was driving the truck so I dented his front bumper with the tail gate and the hood with my own bumper. At least the guy was super nice about it.

The house is officially ours. Well, actually we got it a day earlier than we expected, but that's just as well because the amount of filth left behind is mind boggling. How do people live like this?!

We didn't get too much done today after Cliff got off of work, but Bert did come to help out. It gave us a chance to start some cleaning (hours and hours of it with many more days left to do!) and meet one of the abandoned kitties. She's very friendly, and our new neighbors (who are awesome!) told us they they've been feeding her for us and saved her (and the others) from a roasting death in our garage. Not sure if we'll keep her yet, but she seems to think that we've moved into her home.

More pictures from the fair here

Pie Face

Just about finished moving into the new house but we ran out of time (and energy) to cook dinner so we headed to Brookfields for happy hour and pie. Evelyn has learned she loves the pie as much as I do! Every time she saw Daddy put a bite on his spoon this is the face she'd make as she followed the spoon with her eyes hoping it would come to her mouth. If he took the bite, she'd get a real sad pouty look and say "Stop it Daddy!" very firmly. I think for once I actually enjoyed the show more than the pie.

Home Owners!

I think it's fair to say I waited all day to get the call that I could pick up the house keys and finally it came. Not until after dinner but it came none the less. We had a beautiful card from our Realtor Lisa, a welcoming packet including address stamps and postcards for sharing our new address, and of course, the most important part. One. Big. Ugly. Key. Just one, and no garage door opener, but I still got a key. Since it was a kings key, and I'm anti-kings, I went to the local (crappy) walmart and had a copy made.

Also, this morning I picked up a tip top shape school cubby (I'll post a picture later) for just $60. I haven't been able to find them for less than $300. It was officially the first thing I moved into our new house (along with the cool entry table I got for $20 off craigslist as well (picture of that later as well).

Yay! Wedgies!

What happens when you trim a video from a birthday party for personal entertainment. Also, what happens when you stay up until 3am.

You boys are lucky I didn't have my camera with me by the end of that party....

Go See Mouse?

Today. Did NOT. Go as planned.

Frustrating, but again, it still ended up as a good day.

Snafus in the house may have all been resloved and we might actually be getting the keys tomorrow (a day early!).

After a very exhausting morning (and nothing accomplished) I went to pick up Noah and get my tickets from the radio station. I drove to the wrong radio station.

After nap time we went to visit mouse, aka: Chuckie Cheese.  Evelyn has just been obsessed with that mouse since Isaac's party. She loves it, but it terrifies her. Kind of funny to watch. Noah, wants to hug the creepy thing. Such a brave, brave boy.  Alex was seemingly annoyed we weren't buying more tokens and that there was a limit on how many he would have, but once he started playing it didn't seem to matter anymore.

Evelyn and Noah had a field day calling Chuckie on the big phone and riding the little rides. Except the roller coaster. Noah liked that one, Evelyn. Did. NOT.

She likes putting the money in more than the ride sometimes

They got to play racing games together (surprising how easily they share when they've both had naps) and when the tokens were all gone, we headed to Sacramento for a play date.

More things did NOT go as planned, but the kids were so cute all playing together it made the crummy drive forgetable. Noah is such a cute teacher to Evelyn and they are so sweet with how they want to play together even when there are new kids to play with. Still a love/hate thing, but that's normal.

Had some more personal Snafus, but that ended up being the highlight of my whole day.
My final straw, nearly breaking my back, brought me to my dearest friend for some more play date time for Evelyn, and some much needed time with friends for me. We're all alone in this life, but with close friends (even if you don't seem them much) you don't have to feel alone.
My day was like a hurricane, but tonight, I found my rainbow and know there's sunny skies ahead.

Bath time for all the girls

More Pictures Here

Two Years, Already?

Today is Evelyn's Birthday. I don't think she understands when we all tell her Happy Birthday. She responds with "Happy Birthday to You", or "Go see mouse?". We did that last one to ourselves. There were 4 Chuckie Cheese Birthday parties in a row and she knew we went to the party for a birthday. For 4th of July we explained that it was the day for her party and again she thought we'd go see the mouse. Another day baby, another day. Today our plans got changed because of the crazy long arguments we were having with one of her older brothers, but that didn't mean we didn't have any less fun.

Today was a fantastic day to be outside. Warm but not too hot and there was a wonderful breeze blowing all day. Glorious.

This morning we got Evelyn dressed in her pretty green birthday dress, but I also brought out the tie dye shirts we did Sunday night and she really wanted to wear her 'pretty shirt!'. It worked out since it was much easier for her to climb in the skorts than it would of been in her dress.

We got to pet the horses (and Evelyn even fed them cookies by herself!), climbed like a "climbing birdie" (I don't get it, she just kept saying it), swung like a spider monkey (to which she replied "I'm a spider monkey!"-awesome!), and ran around with Alex for hours. She had so much fun 'turning the wheel', sliding, and checking out the animals she didn't nap but her mood never turned sour.

Alex finished his bow that he's been working on the last few trips and now he's moved on to practicing with it and making better arrows.



As for this morning, unrelated to the baby, but crucial to the family, I have a favorite moment of the week.

We signed the papers for the house and should hopefully get the keys by Friday.

Also, a few days ago Cliff took my car to work (to get the AC fixed) and didn't put my keys back on the ring right. Then, when I was rushing out of the house to get Noah they fell off and I spent 30 minutes trying to find them. During that time I removed my spare key hoping it might by some fluke drive my car. No luck, but it mattered because this morning because I forgot to take my keys out of the ignition before walking inside to sign papers.

With the baby seat locked in my car and Cliff needing go back to work, he had to run back to the house and look for the spare key in the mess of boxes and moving clutter at home. He didn't think it was very funny, but I did.

Also, I love our Realtor. Not only is she the best Realtor anyone could hope for, but since she didn't have any appointments that morning she let Evelyn and I sit in her car, out of the wind, while Cliff searched for my key. She even offered to drive me home so I could look too, but I reminded her Evelyn didn't have a seat and that was why we didn't do that first. I was very grateful to be out of the wind and so was Evelyn in her pretty, but chilly, birthday dress.

2 Years Ago...

Happy Birthday Baby! I can't believe it's been 2 years, time really does go very fast.

I read that by this age you should have a vocabulary of about 50 words. You were at 50 words months ago. How smart you are impresses me every day. You're so sweet, so well behaved, and I love how you play with your brothers even when they aren't always nice to you. God blessed me with you and I'm grateful everyday that you came into our family. I love you, Evelyn!

Two years ago today... my life started.

The photos from her 24 month session

Anyone Home?

Baby mama, moving, or just plan general drama or stress. I needed a break from life-and I took it...in the form of doing nothing. Not very productive, but I don't feel so overwhelmed anymore. Things are really crazy, but they are also improving so much in other way.

I can't believe we're only a week away from moving. We're not properly packed, I have no clue how I'm going to move and clean with 4 kids, I still haven't picked paint colors and we need to paint THIS weekend.... but I'm excited. This will be my first forever home.

On the note of I'm too busy for my own good, I kept the weekend jam packed with events.

Tie Dye Birthday

We had T's Birthday party at Wacky Tacky today. That place is so much more fun when there's not 50 random kids running around, I didn't previously realize that when they do parties it's closed to the public. That or we were just lucky. Either way: awesome.

Annoyed at the camera and still incredibly
handsome

Ronnie forgot his camera, so he used mine, but after awhile we all started playing with the kids on the slide or shooting each other with the ball guns. Crazy amounts of fun! There's something about the parents, grandparents, and kids all throwing foam balls at each other that just makes you smile inside.

When it was time for food and cake Ronnie was tired of being in charge of pictures (all the ones he was taking were too dark to see) and asked me to capture the moment. I choose to do the tourist thing and take pictures of everyone, non stop. Annoying to them, entertaining to me. Sadly, it's much more entertaining (and successful) to pester the adults with a camera. I failed in my picture taking responsibilities!

Evelyn LOVED the pizza! It's so funny to see a 2 year old just going to town on a large slice of pizza. Hard to capture with a camera though.

She loves her cupcakes too, but true to current form she only eats the icing. Yuck!

The kids all got balloon swords, and while they ate the Ron's battled with them. Ronnie got a bit cocky and started attacking his wife with his balloon... she won. He then retreated to comparing balloon sizes with Cliff and finally they both teamed up on Alex and poked at him instead. If at first you don't succeed... find a smaller victim.

Even though it ended up being very late by the time we started, Cliff and I did tie dye shirts with the boys. I've been planning it for weeks trying to figure out the best way to fold a shirt, dye it, etc and I had all the supplies ready. I was hoping to have them done by Evelyn's birthday so that where ever we go it would be easy to spot my litter, and today was the last day to get to do it with Cliff as well.

Time wouldn't have been a issue but the size 10/12 shirts I got for Alex shrunk to a 4/6 in the cold wash so I had to return them *hassle!* and soak them before we could start. Even better, I bought a kit with 12 colors, so Cliff and I started filling the bottles and about 6 bottles filled with dyes (pink, purple, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue) we realized the stupid kit came with 12 colors, and only 8 bottles. It had it's challenges, but all the shirts are dyed and in bags to be washed tomorrow.

More Pictures Here

Blackberry Rope Spin

Today it seemed a really long time before we finally left the house to head up to Pops and Grannys, but it all worked out for the best.

The blackberries were perfectly ripe from the mild summer and recent rain so the boys and I started the day picking berries. It's so great that they remembered how to pick fruit from last year and were both able to pick a basket without any major injuries. However, with the sun blinding me and the berries invisible with my sunglasses on I only got two baskets (and a wicked thorn in my palm) before I literally burned out. Later in the evening Cliff went out to collect some more berries so that "I wouldn't think he was reaping from all my hard work" and we ended up with half a bushel of berries to take home.

Granny did her picking a previous day and made us the most delicious Texas style cobbler. I don't like lemon flavor at all (this recipe had a good amount of lemon taste) but it was super delicious. I greatly enjoyed a very large slice.

It ended up as such a relaxing day. The kids all played together and I just got to enjoy watching everyone have fun. We discovered a new game on this visit, spinning the rope swing up and letting Alex spin out then make him walk. Cliff tried it too and said it was horrible. Naturally, I had to call out his wimpy-ness and I got on as well. It was more fun than a carousel, but impossible to walk afterwards- worse than being intoxicated. I'll stick to watching Alex spin to near sickness for now.

No Bruce, No Better!

Evelyn doesn't like going to the Dr. She doesn't mind walking in because they have stickers, but once she gets called back the nurse wants her to stand on a *scary* scale and then takes her temperature. Today, I took Evelyn in because she keeps complaining that her ear hurts. Normally we'd go see Ooi or Bruce, but today we got someone new: Joe. When the nurse left the room Evelyn started saying "No Bruce!" over and over again. Bruce is always very nice so it was pretty funny, but I explained to her that she wasn't seeing Bruce today she was seeing Joe. She was happy about that until I told her he was going to make her feel better. Then it went back to crying "No Bruce, No better!". She calmed down one final time when i told her she'd get medicine if she was sick.

When Joe walked into the room without a little blue puppy she wasn't too sure. He checked out her ears and throat and listened to her lungs and talked to her and kept her happy the whole time. I was shocked at how great he was with her! She's never made it through a visit with a Dr. without actually screaming bloody murder.

Turns out, the whole litter and I walked to the Dr.'s office just for the exercise. She's just fine, clean bill of health.

Again, I didn't have a memory card in my camera. Fail.

Funiculì, Funiculà!

Find more artists like Dora The Explorer at Myspace Music

Today was a spare the air day so the kids and I stayed inside. This was our theme song of the day. Today was also the first dinner from our new menu planner so Evelyn helped me make dinner by turning the music up and down and asking me to hold her so we could dance together. She wanted to hear this song over and over again so now I'm just sharing the love. 

Happy 4th, Second Birthday... Party Crashers

I stayed up WAY too late... and not even for a good reason. I stayed up simply because I had coffee too late and wasn't feeling tired. I should have at least tried to go to sleep, but instead I watched TV, painted my nails, made a tutu for Evelyn, played online. I only did things that were necessary at 4am... riiiiiight. Come 5:30am I finally headed upstairs for bed and I'm very grateful that Cliff let me sleep until 11am-although on any other day I would of been very annoyed at myself.

We headed up to Melissa's house to help set up and wait for the party to start. I'm so happy she had the water slide for the kids to play on. We were there for 11 hours and I think they only stopped running around it and sliding for *a bite of* lunch, dinner, and fireworks. Evelyn and T hung out in the kiddie pool splashing and playing. Grandma Debby was so wonderful, she sat there and made sure they stayed safe even though they splashed her to soaking wet.

I wanted to make sure there was plenty of things to do for the kids who didn't do the water slide so in gift bags for the kids I put crayons (I brought floor sized coloring books), bubbles, water guns, chalk, and pretties. Turns out Evelyn was the only one who didn't do the water slide and she wasn't able to use the water guns, but everyone else could! Even the big boys got in on the action, swiping guns from tables and attacking each other. Eventually it just turned into emptying water bottles on each other, but that would of happened anyway. 

We did cupcakes and presents. Evelyn wasn't very happy that we made her wait to eat while we all sang to her (she wasn't too sure about the singing) but she ate her cupcake just like me eating only the frosted top of it while leaving the cake behind. I was really proud of her for seeing all those presents all day long and never opening them until we told her she could. That was a lot of Dora paper to resist! She was so excited to get a computer and those Dora things (while playing with her backpack she out of the blue told me, "Good toy, mama. It's a good toy!"). All this good behavior and she didn't even get her nap!

It was hot enough outside that all the adults were starting to contemplate taking over the water slide, or at least sharing it. That is, until we saw Pops try to get up the 'ladder'. It's amazing how hard those things can be to climb up, I tried at O's birthday party unsuccessfully.

There was more than enough delicious food all day long. Everyone brought something to add to the feast. Melissa puts on a great spread every year and this year we had just one small change: no hot dogs or hamburgers. She made meat kabobs. That is something I hope we do every year! It was a huge hit, they flew off the plate as soon as they came off the grill!

As usual we had more fireworks that we needed. As a bonus this year the neighbors in the new house had illegals. Pretty from afar, but scary that close. Especially when they don't go up in the air as high as they are supposed to! The brothers took a back seat this year and let the teenagers put on the show. For their first year doing it solo, they did a fantastic job. We even had a dancing board finale! The brothers never did THAT before; Awesome! Ronnie and I played tourist trying to get our fancy cameras to take perfect pictures of the fireworks. I'm a little shamed to admit it, but I was a little jealous of how great his were turning out. It was a lot of fun though, and although I ran out of memory before it was finished, I did manage to capture a video of my favorite firework (4 of them actually) in action. Jack of Hearts ROCKS. However, I also learned the Big Squeeze was pretty awesome and next year I'll have to get them both again and pick my favorite then.


As usually I took more than enough photos (and I'm sure I'll be stealing some of Ronnie's as well at a later date).

Too Young to Notice

I went to PF Changs tonight for the first time in my adult life. I had delicious food, great company, mediocre service, and a TERRIBLE experience. And, it had nothing to do with how busy the place was. The waitress was a bare minimum waitress. I can get over that since they were busy although I would of preferred that she at least acknowledge how busy they were, or maybe apologize for never being around, but some people just aren't like that and it's okay.

What bothered me was how I felt Evelyn wasn't welcome. We told them when we made reservations, that there were 4 adults and 1 child, and they gave us a highchair even though we didn't request it (she's used to sitting in big person seats) and yet they didn't provide silverware or a menu for her (I thought at the time they didn't have kids menus, but a quick check online reveals that they do indeed have a children's menu). When the waitress got our drink orders she didn't even ask if Evelyn needed something to drink as well (plus, she seemed put off that three of us were drinking water).  

We ordered, 4 soups, 2 appetizers,  6 entrees, and dessert. The waitress brought us plates for appetizers, but didn't bring 1 for Evelyn, I had to use one of the soup plates so Evelyn could have some food as well. And, she didn't make our sauce so I tried to figure it out even though I've never had it before. 

She came and cleared all our plates (now seeing that Evelyn is indeed eating on her own plate), then brought us dinner plates but again didn't bring one for Evelyn. I was annoyed enough this time that I asked for a plate "for my daughter"  trying to humanize my child. I didn't bring a begging dog to dinner lady, it's a toddler that wants to eat! Okay, she was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day but I'm still supposed to pay her for this service?! 

I have to give her credit: for as terrible as she was in almost EVERY aspect, she did okay on keeping our waters full. Okay. 

When dinner came out she followed it and asked us how it tasted before any of us could even get a scoop onto our plates. She was terrible!

I was curious about some of the different desserts offered with the meal we got and asked her for a dessert menu. She said she could tell me what they had so I tried to explain that I wanted to read the descriptions on the menu because I wanted to know about several items and again she insisted she could tell me all I wanted to know. I asked for a description of two desserts and chose the second one "flour-less chocolate dome". A dessert that she started to argue with me that I was looking at the wrong list of desserts and I had to remind her that it was on the list with an up charge. *She's trying to ruin my chocolate experience!* She described it to me as chocolate cake, with chocolate mousse inside, and raspberry sauce on top. Close, but she failed to mention that it's a warm dish, and there is no mousse inside, just gooey cake. Still tasted good, but not what Cliff and I were expecting to split. And of course, when she brought us dessert, she had no silverware for Cliff and I. When I asked her for some spoons she grabbed another napkin roll (with two forks inside) instead. 

When the bill came I would NOT let Cliff tip her more than 8%. Bare minimum work=bare minimum wages. Bert still wanted to tip 15% (mind you, we're all normally 20-25+% tippers!) so we rounded it to 10% for ease of math. 

After we left and got home I was still really feeling slighted at how we were treated. Mostly, the dessert menu issue, the lack of silverware, and the complete negligence of my child. 

I started to think that maybe they didn't have a dessert menu, and maybe children are frowned upon- so I called the manager. 

Eric was shocked when I told him about my experience. He told me that it is a family establishment and they want children there and right now they are pushing a promotion that EVERY table needs to have a dessert menu at the end of their meal. 

I didn't call trying to get anything, if I had wanted something I would of complained while we were still eating. I called because Cliff and Bert both love PF Changs and yet I was feeling like I never wanted to walk into the restaurant again or even eat their food and I was hoping it was just a misunderstanding (maybe kids aren't welcome kind of thing). 

Eric was very polite and professional to me. He assured me that Roseville has an all star staff and that I will not have that kind of experience again. To urge me to return he is also sending me a gift card. 

I didn't need or ask for  the card but I am grateful for it because I really don't think I would have returned otherwise (or encouraged any friends to patronize the place). 

I will give PF Changs one more chance to change how I felt when I left today. I'm very grateful that Evelyn is young enough that she can be totally oblivious to how she was treated at dinner. She really enjoyed pointing out the statures and lamps and loved the food so her and I will return and give it another shot. 

PF Changs

Enjoy a four-course meal for two for $39.95 Price may vary by location. Tax and gratuity are not included.
CUP OF SOUP (CHOOSE TWO)
HOT & SOUR SOUP  EGG DROP SOUP
STARTERS (CHOOSE ONE)
CHANG'S LETTUCE WRAPS Chicken or Vegetarian  CRAB WONTONS DUMPLINGS Shrimp, Pork or Vegetable  CRISPY GREEN BEANS   SPRING ROLLS (4)   SALT & PEPPER CALAMARI SEARED AHI TUNA* Add 2.45 DYNAMITE SHRIMP   Add 1.45 CHANG'S SPARE RIBS Add 1.95
ENTRÉES (CHOOSE TWO)
	CHICKEN		BEEF & PORK		SEAFOOD
	CHANG'S SPICY CHICKEN  GINGER CHICKEN with BROCCOLI CRISPY HONEY CHICKEN SESAME CHICKEN  ALMOND & CASHEW CHICKEN KUNG PAO CHICKEN  ORANGE PEEL CHICKEN  SWEET & SOUR CHICKEN		MONGOLIAN BEEF BEEF with BROCCOLI PEPPER STEAK  BEEF á la SICHUAN  ORANGE PEEL BEEF  SWEET & SOUR PORK		CRISPY HONEY SHRIMP KUNG PAO SHRIMP  ORANGE PEEL SHRIMP  KUNG PAO SCALLOPS  Add 1.95 SALT & PEPPER PRAWNS Add 1.95 ASIAN GRILLED NORWEGIAN SALMON* Add 2.95 NORWEGIAN SALMON STEAMED with GINGER* Add 2.95 MAHI-MAHI* Add 3.95 OOLONG MARINATED CHILEAN SEA BASS* Add 8.95
DESSERTS
CHOOSE TWO OF OUR EIGHT DELICIOUS MINI DESSERTS Tres Leche Lemon Dream | The Great Wall Of Chocolate® | Triple Chocolate Mousse | Apple Pie Tiramisu | Red Velvet Cake | Creamy Cheesecake | Carrot Cake
- or -
ENJOY ONE OF OUR LARGER DESSERTS BANANA SPRING ROLLS Add 1.95 | FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE DOME Add 1.95 THE GREAT WALL OF CHOCOLATE® Add 3.95 | NEW YORK-STYLE CHEESECAKE Add 1.95