K's Video

Had to post a vidoe of K too. This is the song she is going to dance to in her recital in June. Click HERE to view.

M's Song

Here's a cute video of M singing last night before bed. Check it out. Click HERE.

Misc Pictures

The first few are from the Sacramento Jazz Festival in Old Town last weekend.

I can't wait until she can wash the car on her own. She loved it.

M is OBSESSED with bugs. Millipede or Centipede? Not sure.

Love this one. From our backyard.

The blueberry tree we planted last year.

K's First Dentist Appointment

K had her first check-up and cleaning this week. She couldn't have been more excited about it. You would have thought we were going to Chuck E. Cheese or something. She told everyone she saw before and after her appointment. My kids are strange ... they actually like going to the doctor. Probably because they've never been too sick or had anything traumatic done. She wasn't scared at all. A few weeks ago she went with M so she knew exactly what was going to happen and we go to a Pediatric dental office that is great. If interested, it's called Children's Choice. I regretted not taking pictures of M during his first appointment so I just had to take some pictures of K during hers.

Waiting her turn. (in her dance outfit because we just left her class)

Getting her teeth cleaned. She watched The Lion King and chose grape toothpaste.

Showing me her clean teeth. We were waiting for the Doctor to come in and "count" her teeth. She has 20 teeth which are all of her baby teeth.

X-Ray time.


The kids have been excellent lately. They have been listening to me and getting along quite well. as well as helping me out a little bit more around the house. I took them to Discovery Kingdom yesterday (Brian was working). The weather was going to be hot here in Sacramento and my house was clean so I didn't want to stay at home because they will just mess it up and it makes me crazy. I love having Season Passes. Even if we just stay a few hours, it's worth it. We ended up staying until about 4:30 pm. By the time we got home, we were all exhausted. M's approx 40 pounds, K's about 33 and the stroller weighs at least 20 pounds. So I pushed about 100 pounds around ALL DAY ... not to mention, there are tons of hill there. They especially loved the whale show, the sharks (as always) and M loved the butterfly habitat. He is so much like me. He insisted I take more pictures of them. I had to drag him out of there because K was trying to get out.

We love the book, 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' by Shel Silverstein. It's a collection of funny poems and drawings. Last night before bed, M found his "favorite one" and insisted I read it. This says a lot. Here it is.

FOR SALE

One sister for sale! One sister for sale! One crying and spying young sister for sale! I'm really not kidding. So who'll start the bidding? Do I hear a dollar? A nickel? A penny? Oh, isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any One kid who will buy this old sister for sale, This crying and spying young sister for sale?

He did hug and kiss her before bed last night without being asked to. K told me the older day out of the blue, "M don't like me." He does, I know that but everything has to be on his terms.

M came downstairs this morning and said, "I'm parched!" He has been so funny lately.

More later ... I'm enjoying my day today without kiddos. I'm sure it'll fly by!

Frusterated

I'm going to vent/rant for a minute. While I LOVE my new laptop, I absolutely hate blogging on it. For some reason, you can't cut/paste or copy/move photos while in Blogger. In order to do so, you have to go into the HTML and try to find them and move them that way. Then, for some reason, the spacing between pictures gets all jacked up and you can't fix it. Also, sometimes when I try to center my captions, it makes all the text centered (for the entire post). Takes me twice as long for a single post. I thought maybe it was Windows Vista and I could just blog on Brian's laptop (since he has Windows XP) but no such luck. His does the same thing! Anybody out there have a laptop and blog? If so, let me know if I'm just doing something wrong or what. PLEASE.

I have to go to bed ... working a 12 tomorrow.

Finally, pictures of K

Now that I'm done with my Photography Class I have more time to take pictures of what I really enjoy... my kids. This morning after I dropped M off at school, K and I went to the park. She had the cutest dress on so I couldn't resist taking some pictures. I bribed her with a Petite Vanilla Scone at Starbucks. My kids love those. Trust me these photos were not easy to get. We were in full sun and she refused to go in the shade because she was too cold. She's so sensitive to cold ... M isn't that way at all.

Love it. Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent?

This is a before and after editing picture. I learned a lot of techiques in my class and finally am starting to put them to use. Notice how bright the background is but she is too dark. Usually not much to do about that but brighten the entire picture (which blows-out your lights). Well, she showed us how to use masks. I masked off the rest of the picture and just lightened K. It helped a lot. Here's the BEFORE.

AFTER. Much better, huh?

Blue skies.

Just playing around with my camera ... and editing.

Brian's going to kill me. The other night, after putting K to bed he came downstairs with a tiara on. He 'said' M refused to let him out of her room unless he wore it. I don't think pink is his color. Yes, I made him wear it for a picture while I laughed hysterically.

Random Photos

I'm finally getting around to posting photos of the Mother's Day gifts I received from the kids. I post these images (not because anyone else really cares) but because I'm (still) planning on making a book out of this blog for my kiddos someday.

M made a Lavender Sachet at school with his photo on it (with a lot of help, I'm sure).

K made a present for me while at Willy's. She was so proud and couldn't wait for me to open it.

Sand art with a seashell in a vase. I can't believe she didn't tell me what it was. I guess she keeps secrets pretty well.

Finally, some more pictures of K. A cute one of her in M's dugout.

finally broke out the Easy-Bake oven the other day and made yellow cake with chocolate frosting. The kids had a blast.

K's cheesy face while making our cake.

Off to get ready for my Reno trip ... TTYL

Last game of the season

M had his last game of the season on Sunday and boy was it hot outside. The temperature hit 100+ but he played his best game to date. He was such a trooper ... never complained even once. He hit the ball both times on his first swing. The first ball made it to 2nd base and his second ball made it all the way into the outfield. He was so proud of himself (mom was also quite proud). He stopped a few ball in the field and threw the ball right to 1st base also. Brian's parents were in town so we all headed straight to the pool to cool off after the game.

M said such a cute thing before his parents got here on Saturday. While coming out of the bathroom he yelled out, "when is the backup going to be here." He must have heard Brian and I talking the day before.

Love it ... look at how red his cheeks were. He even has a little dirt on his nose.

A rare moment where they actually like each other. They let us sit in the dug-out with the kids yesterday because it was so hot. She leaned in to give M "huggies."

Hangin'out.

My mom and Aunt Joy came to last weeks game. My Aunt Joy was visiting from Michigan.

An action shot of M warming up

Another cute one of M sitting in the dugout. I couldn't resist ... it was his last game.

Horsie Grandpa ... poor guy. The kids wouldn't let him stop giving them rides and he has back problems!

A quiet moment between M and Grammy.


I LOVE this picture of M and Aunt Joy. He politely asked her, "can I sit on your lap?" I explained to him before she got here that he had to be careful with her because she was elderly and fragile. He sat there and never moved a muscle.

Thank god for having company the last 2 weekends. The kids have been a challenge lately with fighting and waking up at night. I feel like we're going through the newborn stage again. I was able to sneak out and see a movie while Brian's parents were here on Saturday (Brian was at work). I saw Obsessed with Beyonce. Basically a remake of Fatal Attraction but was so good. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

I haven't posted many pictures of K because she isn't as cooperative. M likes to have me take photos of him so he can look at them on the computer. Another funny M story. The other day Brian, M and K rode their bikes to the park (K on the back of Brian's). While M was playing on the monkey bars, he had a blister that broke. I guess M cried hysterically and said he couldn't ride his bike home without a bandaid. I guess M was a mess. Brian didn't know what to do because I was at work and they were stuck at the park so he took off his sock, used his keys to cuts holes for his fingers and slipped it on his arm. M was content and able to ride home. He has been wearing his "cast" for the last week. He even came in to my room in the middle of the night that evening to show me. Finally, I got him to take it off so we could wash it!!

Lots of other things to say but I have to go to work ... will write more when I get a chance. I'm looking forward to tomorrow ... Dyan and I are heading to Reno for a girls night. Some pool time and gambling. I can't wait. Maybe we'll will BIG.

Mom's Night in M's Classroom

Last week M invited me to Mother's Night in the Classroom at his school. I wish excited to be able to go because I had to work last year. We got to the school, he showed me around his classroom a little and then we all sat down on the floor in a circle while Teacher Juana read what the kids said about us during their interviews. M said his favorite thing to do with me is play with Play-Doh. He said his favorite foods that I make are pancakes and quesadilla's (really?). When asked what he does that makes Mommy happy, he said, "clean up". He got that one right.

I had to fight back tears ... he sat on my lap and held my hand while she read to us. We shared a special moment and I realized just how fast they grow up. I should appreciate this time in our lives more.

Daddy took a picture of us as we rushed out the door.

Isn't his classroom cute? They sang a few songs and passed out roses. The party lasted about 1 hour. It was just right. I'll tell you, I love that school. He's been going there for 2 years and I've never had any problems. We drive 80 miles round-trip to take him there (3 days a week). I don't know what I'd do without them.

He was very excited and RAN over to give me the rose.


We did an arts and crafts project. See my lovely hat? We also enjoyed a tea party with (iced) tea and cookies. M served and even cleaned up after me.

I'm going to post a few pictures of the gifts I got for Mother's Day when I get time. M came home from school sick today. They called me about 9 am and said he vomited a few times. He seems a little tired now but otherwise fine. After I picked him up from school he excitedly said, "now what are we going to do?" When I told him he didn't look too sick to me, he said, "I frowed up, Mom ... really I did!"

Happy 5th Birthday to M!

M turned 5 on Sunday (Mother's Day) and instead of having a party we took Jack (his best friend) with us to Discovery Kingdom. The boys have been best friends for 2 years now and because they live in Woodland and we're in Sacramento we haven't gotten together for any playdates. The boys were on cloud nine and so much fun. Listening to their conversations just cracked me up. We heard lots of super-hero and shark talk. They giggled and acted silly. Jack is a very good boy and wasn't any problem. My kids got along better having him with us. Maybe 3 is easier than 2 (could be but I'm never going to find out). I took tons of good pictures of the boys. Jack is a huge ham. Here are a few. By the way, I'm typing on my new laptop computer. Our old computer has been sick for a while so my wonderful husband bought me a laptop for Mother's Day. I was so surprised ... I love it.

Best friends.

A rare picture of all 3.


We'd been promising M that he could go on an elephant ride on his birthday. I'd gone before so I chose to take pictures. Brian said K giggled the entire time.


My favorite picture of the day. M sure has gotten brave. They loved the swings.


Super-Hero pose.

I couldn't believe it when the boys wanted to go on the BIG pirate ship. M even kept his arms up the entire time. We laughed so hard.

You just might be a redneck if instead of cake, you have a chocolate doughnut. Here's the story ... we planned on coming home after Discovery Kingdom and having cake and opening presents but by the time we came home, it was too late. The next morning the kids were up bright and early and I wanted to sing and do candles but didn't feel like having cake at 9 am. So, because the kids love doughnuts, we put the candles in one. Make a wish.

Playing with one of his new toys. You stomp on the orange thingy and it shoots the rocket into the air. It's a good thing we have tall ceilings. Got air?

I've been super busy with company and my computer was down for a couple of days. I'll catch up on my blogging this weekend. Off to bed.

Future firefighter

Brian had to bring the "Chief's Truck" home the other day. The kids were so excited to be picked up from school in it. After they got home, Brian let M fill the fire extinguisher that was in the back and put out the pretend fire.

He was super-excited as you can see.

Helping Dad.

I didn't take many pictures because he was spraying that water everywhere and I was afraid he would get me camera wet!!

Will write more when I get time. We have 2 Birthday Parties to go to today so we have a busy-fun day ahead of us. I'm sure the kids will be on a huge sugar-high by the end of the day. Brian is working OT (teaching) but will be home this evening - hopefully in time to make Macy's (Dyan's Daughter's) birthday party. We are having date-night after the kids go to bed. The plan is to turn all the lights off in the house, light some candles, have champagne and watch Harper's Island. If you haven't seen it, tune in. It's suspensful and spooky... kind of like a good horror film that just keeps going week after week.