Just a quick one.

This morning I had to get up super early... I had class at UC Davis Medical Center. I had to take both kids to daycare/preschool in Woodland. K was dropped off at 6:45 am and M at 7:00 am, the earliest they open. Then I had to race back to Sacramento (about 20 miles) and make it to class by 8:00 am. I made it, but I was a little rushed. I feel like in regards to my job I've been just kind of in a rut for the past few years. I've been so busy being pregnant or being a mommy that I felt like I didn't have time for anything else (and I still don't). I've been in ER for the last 15 years so I think I'm suffering a little burn-out. But, they have been having a lot of good classes and certifications at work because we received a designation as a trauma center and will start taking trauma patients at the beginning of the year. We're the first Kaiser facility to be a trauma center and they are building a huge new wing, new OR's, a new ICU and a helipad. They are also buying us many state of the art new toys. (Kaiser will spring for anything) We get some easier trauma cases now and get quite a bit of penetrating trauma from the home-boy ambulance (dropped off by their buddies). It's exciting to be part of something this big from the ground up and I really feel like they want out input and truly want to make this a success. I'm not necessarily super excited about the trauma patients... I've worked in a trauma center before. It's not that challenging as a nurse (truly sick medical patients are much more difficult), it's bloody and dirty, and the patients tend to be drunk or gang-bangers or all around not the best people to care for. I am excited for the change though and hopefully I'll learn a thing or too (I'm sure I will) because I think this will be a much better experience than I had in Santa Rosa. I'm sure I'll have some good stories to tell.

Some funnies. When I went in to wake M up this morning he said "mom, I can't get my eyes to open." He was so cute... of course K was already awake and in my bed.

Tonight before bed I asked M what makes him happy. He said, "you, daddy, Roscoe, choo-choo's and that's it." I said what about K? After a big long pause (and some thinking) he said, "her too." Stinker.

K and M had their last swim lesson tonight (for the summer). Yeah. I'm ready to have our evenings back again. They both got a certificate from their instructors and K was so proud or hers she insisted on holding it all evening. If she sat it down somewhere she'd say "where's my card?"

A couple of pictures taken with the self-timer of M and I with our craft projects. We made these yesterday.

See ya, Melissa

Our bike ride

Yesterday evening after dinner, Brian and I took the kids for a bike ride. M decided he didn't want to ride his bike, he wanted to ride in the seat on the back of Brian's bike. He was so tired yesterday. M is such a worrier. He really cracked us up. He kept looking back at K and I and telling me to be careful. Then he said "make sure you look both ways." We just had to ride by the fire station (against the head-wind) and luckily the engine was pulling in right as we were going by. That made his whole day. We have to drive bar the fire station anytime we go anywhere in our car. We were going down this hill to get to a pond with ducks, coasting pretty fast and he told Brian "slow down Dad and don't." K just enjoyed the entire ride, never worrying for a second. Neither of them wanted to go home... but my legs sure did!! Today I have a butt-ache.

Well, I better get back to work.
Melissa

My difficult morning

Today was one of those morning that where I just knew I was in trouble. Both kids, especially M seemed very cranky and tired. By 9:00 am I was ready to pull my hair out. The times Brian does 72 hour shifts really take a toll on me by day three.

0615 - We wake up ... this was late by K's standards. She is usually up around 5:30!

0630 - They are both yelling at me wanting milk. I'm half asleep trying to will them to stop. I refuse to get up and tell them they have to wait a little longer.

0700 - I go to get the milk. M has to be sure his is "much bigger and much warmer." I just go along and always say yes. Brian will always whisper to K "it really isn't."

0710 - I'm on the computer, trying to wake up. M wants to do the United States of America puzzle so I start it with him... after we're 3/4 of the way done K decided she wants to help which makes M mad and he starts screaming "no, K." Then she's crying "I want to help too." The fighting has begun. I try to mediate the situation by letting them take turns with the pieces but it didn't help much.

0715 - K cries for 5 minutes... "want my fie." She knows she only gets it in bed but she was a pill over that this morning.

0725 - We're downstairs now... I'm just trying to enjoy my first cup of coffee. The kids are having a big brawl because both of them want to sit on a certain couch cushion(up on the top of the couch where they're not supposed to be sitting anyways but whatever). Whichever one is on it is teasing the other one and the other one is pushing and yelling and whining. They aren't listening to me. At this point, I've only been awake for a little over an hour and want to go crawl back in bed and cover my head!!

0735 - M wants me to go upstairs and get his fire engine. I calmly ask him to because he left it up there and tell him that he's responsible for chasing down his toys. At least 20 times he asks me to go and get it. I refuse. Tell him he could have just done it himself and it would be done with.

0740 - M poops and wants me to help him wipe his bottom. He is such a grouch this morning. So tired. He has been wiping his own bottom for the last what... 9 months at least. I refuse... then he says he just wants me to count while he wipes. He wants to know what number he has to count to to know all the poop is gone. I tell him to just wipe until there's no more poop. Finally after 15 minutes, I go help him... yes he was screaming at me the whole time. He tells me when I get in there "we'll do teamwork, mom." I inform him this is the one and only time I'll help and I mean it.

0755 - Breakfast. I give K cereal. She pushes it away and tell me she wants an orange instead. Refuses to even try the new cereal. I give her an orange and a Dora yogurt and she eats the whole thing. You can't get her to try new things.

0830 - Both kids go outside to play in the sandbox and ride bikes.

They were pretty good the rest of the day. M was very tired at the pool. He didn't even want to swim, he just floated around in his ring and even sat on the side for a while. I made him take a nap today and I had to wake him up after 2 1/2 hours. We went out to dinner and both kids were very good.

I'm just too tired to write anymore.
Melissa

In my spare time

Well I've been obsessed with making hair clips for K today in my spare time (OK, not really spare time, more like when I was supposed to be cooking dinner for the kids, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.) I don't have any spare time. I love crafty things like this and it seems like we are losing hair clips constantly (Brian). Plus, I think these are cuter than store-bought ones. I've been thinking of selling these on Etsy for some time now but I want to see how they hold up with little miss attitude first (K). Just kidding. If you've never been to Etsy, check it out.



We had chinese food tonight for dinner.

K's fortune from her cookie read... Be as willing to take advice as to give it.

M's fortune from his cookie read... People are waiting for cues from you.

Swimming Lessons

All in all I have been very pleased with the swim lessons at The Club. This is M's 4th session and he went from not liking to get his eyes and face wet to loving to go underwater (he says he talks under there) and learning some strokes. K's teacher is awesome. She's young, energetic, enthusiastic and fun. She cheers the girls on and really acts like to enjoys playing with them. K says "want to go swimming with my teacher" frequently.

This teacher however is hands down my least favorite swim teacher of M's. She doesn't have a whole lot of personality and doesn't quite seem like she's enjoying herself. The other thing was, on the first or second day of swim class (I was recording with my video camera... mamarazzi) and she pushed him back to the side of the pool and without paying attention pulled the next student out to work on something. Well, he didn't make it to the side, he has a hard time reaching it and was spinning around in circles, getting tired and his head was dipping under water... he was getting panicked. I was just about to go and rescue him when she noticed. He started crying and needed a couple of minutes to get himself together on the steps. Well, I'm not too much of a paranoid parent (OK, maybe a little) but to me that is completely unacceptable. What if she would have been working with the other child for a minute or two (which she often does) and not have noticed him. I just had to look at the video tape to see how long it was. It was 30 SECONDS. OK, I know that doesn't sound like much but really just think about how long 30 seconds is if you count it out and if you are panicking and feeling like you're drowning!! I know what you're thinking... why didn't I go and help him? She was looking right at him, I thought for sure she saw him or something. Well, I'm all about learning from your mistakes so I let that one go... but it happened again on Wednesday. This time not as long but it still worried me so on Thursday I said something to her (very nicely) about please making sure he gets to the side safely before she takes another student out. She replied kind of snotty with "OK." Whatever, she can have attitude if she wants to. This is MY KID. I know he's probably not going to drown but I don't want him to be so scared and lose his trust that he doesn't want to get in again. Seriously... it is her job right?

A cool shot of him jumping into the pool. He really gets those feet off the ground.

K too... just see how fun her teacher is?

Bubbles.

Yeah, he can get out by himself now!!

Where O' where is K?

There she is! Loving every minute of swim class. She'll do anything the teacher asks her to do.

Went for drinks tonight at The Club with Monte and Dyan. Had fun as usual.
Melissa

Had a good scare last night

Last night after the kids went to bed (about 8:15) I heard several sirens which sounded like police sirens. I didn't think much of it until I saw the police helicopter basically circling my backyard and my immediate neighborhood. They flew around over and over. Then while I was on the phone with Dyan, I heard them talking on their loudspeaker. I couldn't hear very well because I already had my alarm on and this place was locked up like Fort Knox but it sounded like they were giving a description of a subject and mentioned something about an armed robbery. After it was dark outside they kept shining their spotlight into the backyards of my neighborhood. I wouldn't be exaggerating when I say they circled around my house 20+ times. We've had a run of crime around here on innocent people. I'm not sure if it's the economy or what. It's never been bad before. I was nervous but I shut all my blinds, brought the dog in, checked my windows and set my alarm. Thank goodness for the alarm and Roscoe's bark would scare the hell out of someone. I want to watch the news this morning to get some information on what might have been going on. Hoping for a more peaceful evening tonight!

Berry Picking at Apple Hill

Yesterday we went up to Apple Hill to pick berries. We went last year and M had a great time but last year we went to late in the year and had a hard time finding berries. We got to our favorite place for blueberries, Bolster's Hilltop Ranch and they had a sign up saying they were only open on the weekends. I found someone that worked there and very nicely asked if we could pleeaase pick some. (niceness gets you so far in life) She let us in and even directed us to the most wonderful place where the blueberries were perfectly ripened and everywhere. The kids loved it. I was shocked at how much K was into it. She was serious, moving from one tree to another. M ate more than he put in the bucket (as did Brian and I). Both kids have the runs today... ooops. Brian and I kept throwing them at each others mouths to see if we could catch them. Good thing he's trained in the Heimlich because I almost needed it!! M thought that was so funny. When we got home, Brian made homemade blueberry muffins with a delicious crunchy topping of butter, sugar and cinnamon (fat free???). Am I lucky or what?

We moved on to Patrick's Berry Farm. They have Boysenberries, Thornless Blackberries, Raspberries and so many more. By that time, the kids had lost interest a little but we still headed down to pick a few blackberries. It was pretty warm outside too. Afterwards, they had a very nice grassy area with balls, hoola-hoops and other toys for the kids to play with.

Then we tried to find apple donuts (we had promised the kids one) but they were sold out at the 2 farms that were open. We were bummed.

I took lots of pictures... couldn't help myself. I am posting several.

I'm not usually into landscape photography but WOW!! Look at this view from Patrick's Berry Farm.

I just had to get a picture of the blueberries.

Pretending he caught one in his mouth.

K was very serious. You can't beat this. We spent $3.50 (for a pound of blueberries) and we got about 2 hours of entertainment and fun.

Hard at work.

Not the best picture (technically speaking) but I love it.

The grassy area had a water fountain so M decided to help K get a drink. She got drenched and loved every minute of it.

Both kids giggling.

Every time she would stop drinking he said in his nicest voice, "come here K, do you want a drink of water"?

Look at that girl. The other day in the car she said "I'm crazy." You're right, babe. Where she got that from, I'm not sure. I probably say it.

Tonight when we got home from swim class, I was getting M out of his seat and I said "hi, my little swimmer." Once again with his cutest voice said, "hi, my little.... watcher." Cracked me up.

Off to pack lunches... Melissa

Our field trip to the fire station

I don't have time to write much because I have to get up at 0500 tomorrow morning. I have to drive the kids to Woodland and be back in South Sacramento and in class by 0700. I have at least an hours worth of driving in the morning.

I wanted to keep the kids busy all day today so I decided to drive to Sonoma to visit Brian at work. M was super excited all last night about going. We played around in the apparatus room, saw where Brian sleeps, visited the shop outside to see the Chief's Car and had lunch with him before heading home. The kids (and I) had an absolute ball. I took tons of pictures and had to narrow it down to these.

Taken with the self timer... the color and quality of the picture is terrible. I'm not very good at it yet but I love that we're all in the picture together and very happy. I couldn't believe the kids were both looking.

A good one Brian took of K and I in the backseat of the fire engine.

M in the drivers seat.

Daddy's red helmet (captain's helmet). It was so heavy, M had a hard time holding his head up so Daddy helped.

K in the drivers seat. I couldn't believe how much fun she had. She was just as into it as M was, if not more. She was Daddy's shadow following him wherever he went. Tonight before bed, she asked to go there again.

Daddy and K sharing a big laugh. She does this thing now where she wrinkles her nose up and makes this funny sound (which I can't describe) when she laughs.

Brian and the kids played some music in his room before we left.

When we got home we met Dyan, Monte, MaryAnn (Monte's Mom) and the kids at the pool. It was fun but believe it or not a little chilly outside. K kept wanting to go in the hot-tub. Neither of the kids wanted anything to do with me. Bummer. They love Dyan and played with her the whole time. Sorry Dyan, I guess I'm boring. Dyan used to teach swim classes (a long time ago) and worked with M a little. He sure did good for her, I think she does as good of a job if not better than the swim teachers we have had. They start swim classes together tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

The big question... to cut K's mullet or let it grow? I love being able to pull her hair completely up into a pony tail but when it's down she looks a lot like Billy Ray Cyrus and just ragged looking. Should I just cut a little off? Maybe that would make her hair curl a little more... she has a lot of curl in it. Or leave it and put it up all the time? It never stays well though. Any input appreciated.

Off to go to bed... and I have to set an alarm!! I love the evening shift... the only alarm clocks I ever have are M and K.

Melissa

I guess it's my turn

Well, last night the nasty stomach flu that's been ravaging my family finally hit me. I was awake most of the night with horrible burning and cramping in my stomach and vomiting. The only thing worse than being sick is being sick and having to also take care of a 4 and 2 year old (for 72 hours). What a long and exhausting day. I'm feeling better tonight but am still sore all over, don't have an appetite and have awful heartburn. I just had to take the kids to Kidspark this morning for 2 hours. I didn't get much sleep and those 2 fought with each other all morning. When does that stop? Please tell me it does, it's by far my least favorite things about being a mommy. I just couldn't entertain them this morning. I spent most of the morning on the couch with K dressing me up in her dress-up clothes. At one point, I had the tiara on (backwards), 1 shoe and several necklaces on. K said "so pretty, mommy and so cute, mommy." I almost slept through going to get them. Thank goodness I set the timer on the microwave even though I hit "snooze" a few times.

This evening they were stir crazy so I filled up or little pool in the backyard and put the slide into it. They enjoyed that a lot for about twenty minutes. I think it took longer to set the darn thing up than the amount of time they played in it. I did get some good pictures though. After dinner the kids played very well together. I got the Lego's and Mr. Potato head stuff out.

I had the toughest time narrowing these down to four. I had quite a few cute ones.

K's "cheese" smile and pose.

M has been so photogenic lately. No more of the goofy smiles.

Hope I feel better soon. I don't want to be a grouchy mommy tomorrow. Poor kids.

My handyman

Dyan and I had a great time last night. First we did a little shopping... went to The Children's Place (they're having a huge summer sale so I bought stuff for next year... I'm talking 75% off). How could I resist, right? Then we went to Chicago Fire Pizza in midtown and enjoyed salad, pizza and beer. Afterwards, we went to Center Court in Natomas. We weren't ready to go home yet and they have a great patio area to relax on. (we didn't end up sitting out there, long story). I think we were home by 9:30 pm or so. I think we should do this once a month but I'm sure we won't be able to.

Bare with me, I'm going to brag on the kids a little. This may be a little boring. I took the kids to the pool this evening and couldn't believe the progress M had made with his lessons. He's actually swimming now. He can jump in off the side of the pool and swim (doggie-paddle) to the steps. He has no problem going underwater and was even swimming underwater very well. He was working on cupping his hands so he can paddle a little easier. He loves it (the goggles I got help a lot) and has a huge smile on his face the entire time. In fact, I had to be really careful because he would jump in off the steps or side of the pool (while I was playing with K) without telling me and he can do OK for a while but then gets tired and starts going under.

On the way out of The Club, we were eating popcorn and M said "popcorn starts with P". I couldn't believe my ears! 6 months ago he hardly knew any letters and I was beginning to get a little worried. Now he's sounding letters out and starting to really get it. I decided to ask him a few more. I asked him what dog and Mommy start with and he got them both right. This is really getting fun and I can see that all the work I've done with him over the past few months has paid off.

I had to go by the hospital today and have my TB Skin Test read (this is the 2nd one, I forgot the 1st time) and because Brian is working, I had to take K with me. While we were in the waiting room K was eating crackers and began singing at the top of her lungs "yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum ... crackers, crackers, crackers!" It was the tune to Old McDonald but she had changed the words. She had the entire waiting room laughing out loud. Quite the entertainer. After the show was over, the "wanna go's" started. Over and over. She's something, that's for sure.

Yesterday, Brian and I got most of the baseboards done, so today when K was napping I decided I would finish spackling and sanding them. I had done a few holes when M asked if he could try it. I though to myself, why not? What harm could he do? He did such a great job, I let him do several holes. He put it in the hole and I would come behind him and clean it up a little but all in all I was amazed at how careful and patient he was.

Spackling.

Yes, it dries white.

What a cutie!

Just have to share another product I'm loving these days. It's called Hair Balm by Carol's Daughter. The products are all natural and never tested on animals. The Hair Balm is basically sweet almond oil, shea butter and toasted palm kennel oil. Smells absolutely delicious, I think you could almost use it as a lotion too. It makes your hair shiny, calms fly aways, smooths and keep your locks smelling good. I'm hooked. You can get it online or at Sephora.

Talk to you later... Melissa

Girls night out.

I worked the last 2 days ... they were shifts from hell! Very sick patients with no beds to put them in and I worked triage both days but now I'm off for a while. Dyan and I have had a girls night out planned for several weeks so I'm getting ready for a night on the town. Nothing crazy, just dinner, a few drinks and whatever else we can find to do. We'll probably head to midtown. It's such a cool and hip area. Lots of unique and fun places to hang out and I haven't spent a lot of time down there.

Brian and I put the kids in daycare so we can work on the baseboards and finish work for the floors (yes, still). We actually had a lot of fun together working on it and got so much done. It feels really good... it was such a huge job. He's on the way home with the kids now and I can't wait to see them. Because I've been working, I haven't seen them much. Brian said K was asking for me and missing me this morning.

A funny about friends.

More later... Melissa

Hello

Not a whole lot of anything to say today. We've had a busy 2 days while Brian's been gone. Yesterday the kids and I went to the Bounce Spot in the morning. They ran and jumped their booty's off (M informs me that BOOTY is a bad word). The other day I was getting dressed and being silly singing "Shake your Booty". He gave me a very disappointed look and said "that's a bad word, mom." I thought for sure I would get a little rest after bouncing because they would be tired... was I wrong. K didn't nap and M pestered me all afternoon. I just need an hour of alone time to be a much happier Mommy in the evening. I don't know what is going on with her and napping... second time this week she didn't take one. Some days she's begging for a nap at 10 am. In the evening we got take-out and ate dinner by the pool at The Club and swam. That was a lot of fun. M is getting really comfortable underwater. K just floated around in her tube. It's too hard to watch both of them if she isn't in the tube.

Today I took the kids to Kidspark again so I could run some errands. They woke me up at 5:50 am (yes, 5:50). I wanted to roll over and cry. I could really get used to this Kidspark thing. Drop-in and the kids love it. K calls it her school. "Want to go to my school and play with my friends, mommy." This evening M and I went to the pool again before his swim class. I gave K the option of going to "school (the one at the gym) or swimming and she chose school. She is so social.

Tonight while I'm trying to make dinner (that they didn't eat) they were both grating on my last nerve. I have K who had 1 drop of water on her leg crying "towel" and "carry you" and "I'm cold" amongst other whining and M saying "I'm hungry, I want something now" and not listening when I tell him dinner is almost ready. They just kept on and then starting fighting with each other so I put them both on time out. M asked K while they were on the stairs (time-out location) "why are we on time-out anyway?"

Our craft project from today. Can you believe M did his entirely by himself! He did a really good job. K had a lot of help though! I love the $1 section at Michaels.

K in the little dress we bought her in Ensenada. It fits her really cute and she loves it because I told her it was "jammers" - pajamas. The only way I could get a picture is to trap her on the table. She wasn't happy here.

Stinker just kept running towards me. Horrible picture, I know.

A little bit about me... again. Katie sent this to me.


1. What time did you get up this morning? 0550 (see above)

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Sex and The City.
4. What is your favorite TV show? 2 of them - Criminal Minds and Grey's Anatomy

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal and Starbucks
6. What is your middle name? Dawn
7. What food do you dislike? I agree with Katie, Brussel sprouts
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Not sure, I'm liking Carrie Underwood a lot now

9. What kind of car do you drive? Honda Pilot

10. Favorite sandwich? 1st Street Fiesta (from Morrison's in Woodland)
11. What characteristic do you despise? lying and cheating
12. Favorite item of clothing? Jammers (as K calls them, I'm just like her)
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go ? Back to St. Lucia where we honeymooned. Such fond memories.
14. Are you an organized person? yes
15. Where would you retire to? Somewhere in the mountains or a beach area.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? Turning 30, just because I remember I was pregnant with M.
17. What are you going to do when you finish this? Eat my brownies!! And I don't have to share!
18. Furthest place you are sending this? n/a

19. Person you expect to send it back first? n/a
20. When is your birthday? October
21. Morning person or a night person? Night
22. What size shoe to you wear? 8 1/2
23. Pets? 1 Dog

24. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? No

25. What did you want to be when you were little? A Nurse

26. How are you today? Content
27. What is your favorite flower? I don't know, I like Hydrangea's.

28. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Next time family comes so Brian and I can have a date night.
29. What are you listening to right now? Nothing, I'm in the office
30. What was the last thing you ate? Brownie batter (I know I'm bad)
31. Do you wish on stars? No
32. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red, my favorite color)
33. How is the weather right now? Nice, about 80.
34. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Brian

35. Favorite soft drink? Diet Pepsi
36. Favorite cookie? Tough one, Oreos.
37. What color is your hair? Brown
38. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbies (Katie and I are alike)
39. Summer or Winter? Summer by far

40. Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi

41. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
42. Coffee or tea? Coffee, duh.
43. Do you want your friends to email you back? n/a
44. When was the last time you cried? Watching P.S. I Love You
45. What are you most afraid of? Losing someone I love, definately.

46. Best vacation you've been on? Toss up between New York, Paris and St. Lucia.

47. Best job you have ever had? My high school job at Fatte Albert's Pizza was sure fun but I really like my job now also.
48. Salty or sweet? Sweet
49. How many keys on your key ring? 5

50. How many years at your current job? 1 1/2
51. Favorite day of the week? Anyday we're all home together.
52. Do you make friends easily? Yes

Random Photos

Brian is finally home and we are starting to get settled into our routine again. It's so nice to have him back although there is a good chance he'll have to go away again if these fires continue. I'm not sure what I'll have to do in regards to work if that happens. I'm just taking it day by day. Mason is in school this morning and Brian and I are getting caught up around the house... we have someone coming on Sunday to do all of our yard work... yeah!! I have a class this afternoon at the hospital on inducing hypothermia in cardiac arrest patients (which I am not looking forward to) but then we are going to The Club for Friday night happy hour! Smile. Both Brian and I have upset stomachs today so I'm hoping we aren't catching what the kids had.

I don't have much time so I am just posting a few random photos I've taken over the last week.

Granny and K at the park in Coalinga.

M found a worm... yuck!

M and M at the spray park in Clovis.

K during the fireworks.

A rare moment... they are playing together and not fighting. He is showing her how the fire truck works. M is absolutely obsessed with fire engines and trucks. He looks at pictures of them on the computer almost every day and plays with his constantly.

Catching up

Brian is coming home tomorrow!!! I can't wait. He's been gone for 9 days and I worked the 3 days prior to him leaving so we haven't seen each other in quite some time. Probably the longest time we've ever been apart. On Sunday he spent the night in the "rainman suite" at the Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, CA. I guess when they went to the hotel before this one, he and his partner each got their own rooms so he promised them if that situation ever came up again he and Les (his partner) would share. Sure enough, at the casino there were 3 rooms available. As promised, he and Les offered to share a room (little did he know they were ending up in the suite while the other guys got regular rooms). The other guys were so bummed. Funny. Things like that don't usually work out in his favor. He said, he's honestly never seen anything like it... definately never stayed anywhere so amazing. Huge jacuzzi tub, amazing shower, several fireplaces, 3 plasma screen TV's and so much more. How romantic for them! I wasn't jealous at all (yeah right). That's where we're going the next time any of out parents come up. The suite is very reasonable. I think he said something like $230.00 per night or something. He started back to work on those fires (in 105 degree weather) at 5:00 am yesterday morning and didn't get back to base camp until 1:00 pm today... then he had to go back to Sonoma to finish is regular shift. He is so exhausted. I hope he sleeps tonight. We're supposed to have a "date" tomorrow morning and taking the kids to Kidspark. I think they'll have fun too.

I got home from my moms yesterday. Sunday night was rough because M caught the nasty stomach bug K had and vomited all night. Finally at 3:00 am I woke my mom up to relieve me for a little while so I could sleep. I new I had to drive home in the morning. Packing the car and driving home was rough. Thankfully, my mom was sweet enough to take my car down and have my tire checked (it was low and ended up having a nail in it), fill my car up with gas and get me a coffee... all before she went to work that morning. She is so sweet. M was a little puny during the day but better by yesterday evening.

Some pictures from our 4th of July BBQ.

M swimming. He always gives me a thumbs up if he sees me during his swim lessons.

K swimming with David (Lacie's boyfriend). Both kids loved him and he was so good with them. He hunted for bugs, played fire engines, threw them over his shoulder and chased them around. Let me tell you, K is boy crazy already. As soon as David jumped in the water, K jumped up off my lap and ran for the pool. "I go swimming." She flirted and giggled and smiled!!

Swimming with Lacie.

I found a recipe to make ice cream in a ziploc bag so we decided to give it a try. (yes, we own an ice cream maker butI thought the kids would really enjoy it). K had a great time, "shake, shake". M could have cared less, just wanted the ice cream. The ice cream was good but not quite hard enough. I think we should have shaken it longer. If interested in the website,
here it is.
Bag Ice Cream

Yummy.

Cute one of K. She's saying "cheese."

We did fireworks out in front of my mom's house. It was a lot of fun. I hadn't done fireworks at home in many years... maybe even before Brian. M was a little scared at first and wanted to sit in the back of my car. K was terrified. She covered her eyes and kept repeating, "scare me Mommy and too loud." I put her to bed and M stayed up.

My beautiful boy and I. He's more interested in the fireworks than the camera as you can see.

His favorite fireworks were the snakes. Do you remember those?

Off to pick up ... as usual.