Friday Fragments ~ Ants, Lizards and Glasses

I have many different drinking glasses. I have wine glasses, flutes for champagne, ice tea glasses and about 2 dozen or so martini glasses. (I don't drink martinis, but I loved the cactus on the stem of one set and the other sets, well the stem is bent in a weird way and I love it). So, when I am drinking my water during the day or my juice, I will grab one of these glasses, otherwise they really don't get used. So, if you happen to drop by and I have a martini glass out, and it is the middle of the day, NO I am not drinking martini's, but I am probably drinking water!


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We have 3 baby Gecko's. One is darker then the rest, he is a pig. He eats the most crickets and the most worms, he probably craps the most, too. One is sort of pink and yellow, he is mine. He is sketchy and runs around the tank a lot and makes his body into an S, and tries climbing the walls. The last one, is the same color as mine, but has different markings, stripes rather then the squares mine has, and is quite calm and cool.


They are supposed to get along. They are not aggressive animals...or so I was told. Today, when it was time to feed the little dudes, I start dropping the worms in like bombs and the Pig starts eating right away. Out from the "house" mine peeks out and I drop a worm for him. He grubs on it. I drop another one for the other lizard...not sure if he got it or not. So, this goes on for a while, I drop it and the Pig eats it. The last one I drop, the Pig grabs it and mine grabs half his face, including his eye! and takes the worm right out of his mouth! The poor thing had no clue as to what happened, expect he was chomping his worm any longer. Maybe my lizard wants to be the Pig of the tank!


Then, when I was putting the top back on the tank, there was my lizard, making his body into an S stuck to the wall...I swear he is neurotic...


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I don't like it when my kids don't listen. I keep telling Serena if she would listen to me the first time I told her to do something, she wouldn't get into trouble.


I took the kids to the park (the one I used to go to when I was a kid) for an hour. We had a blast. We played on the jungle gym, we went on the swings and we even saw 4 young girls in beautiful dresses with their dates, (going to Prom)...


We walked around the park and found sticks and pine cones, to which I told Serena to not pick up, I could see it was full of sap. I told her to drop it and she kept picking at the sap. I told her it was sticky and it was called sap and to drop it, she didn't listen.


Finally, she dropped it. We get to the van and I take a dipe wipe of all things, and wipe her hands and the dipe wipe STUCK to her hands! in little white tufts all over her fingers. So, I grab the hand sanitizer and rub her hands with my hands. Big mistake. Now my hands were sticky! So, I rubbed mine more with the hand sani...got her in the car seat and drove home. (My van has built in child seats where she normally sits. I also have a car seat that I use for my Ginger Boy sometimes, this is the seat she chose to sit in on the way home, which is by a window that opens, a wing window.) I tell her on the way home, as I look in the rear view mirror at her, DO NOT STICK YOUR HANDS OUT THE WINDOW you will get my window sticky and I might shut the window and squish your hands...


You can guess what happened. I pulled into the drive-way and I am a creature of habit, so I start shutting the windows and she screams! I say what's wrong???? and she screams MY HAND!!!!! so I panic for a split second and then open the window and she pulls her hand out.


Man...that totally ruined our day. Her hand was fine, not even a mark on them, I think because I got the window open fairly quick...

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I don't like ants, can't stand them. We have had them on the honey, in our bathroom, in the kitchen, on the floor by the kitchen table, in our bedroom on the wall, you name it they have been there.

I woke up one morning with ants on my wall, near my bed....gross. So, I clean them up and notice more later in the day....they were crawling from the window down the wall to my shoes and I noticed one in my shoe...so I grab my shoe about to kill the ant and I tip it just the slightest and holy crap! Batman, we have mega ants in my shoe eating a single piece of cereal! I was grossed out and had to dump the ants outside...so much for letting the kids eat a snack in my room while watching a movie...but that is all it takes, one single piece of something dropped on the floor to get them ants comin'!

Brought to you today by MRS. 4444's!

Now go over to her blog and read some more wonderful randomness!

Come on it's fun!

Cuddling with Baby

As I lay in bed and my baby is next to me, he puts his small hands against my neck...

He pushes his small feet against my legs, he is so long now, since he is growing every day...

I wrap my arm around his waist and gently rub his back...

He closes his eyes and opens them again...his breath on my cheek...

As we snuggle in my bed, I have memories of when he was born...how small he was at 6 pounds 11 ounces, how he fit so well in my arms...and how big he is now...2.5 years later

I love to spend my mornings cuddling with my baby...he is my last...I have to enjoy him while I can...because in the blink of an eye he will be big...like his older brother who is now 17...

Mother's Day ~ Just Around The Corner

I get a little paper, The Acorn. It comes on Friday...I think. It's free so I don't really pay attention to when it comes, but I do read it from front page to back. I love it. It is a small paper that comes to my town and the surrounding communities, it features stories about our local high schools (whatever sport is in season and how they are doing, that kind of thing), it has the Sheriff's Blotter (which has info on theft, burglary and where in town it is happening), and it has an Opinion Page.

This last week, it had a small blurb: Tell us what makes your Mom so special. In 100 words or less, write to us and tell us why your Mother is so special.

I plan to do this! They had one for Valentine's Day: 100 words or less and tell us your story of how you met your spouse....I wrote and it was published!

I know my Mom and I have not been close all my life....who is close with their mom when they are teens? I sure wasn't. We really were not close until I moved out...and it wasn't right away, either. I moved out when I was 19 and in with my boyfriend, who later became my 1st husband...my parents were less then thrilled with me "living in sin" so we were not close, yet.

When I became pregnant with my oldest, my mom and I found a closeness. I was young and she could only support me, right? She was with me when Hayden was born and again when Kylie was born. We had a good relationship...me being a new mom and her being a new Grandma!

I had to leave my husband and divorce him and move into my parents house, with my 2 children, they were young, 5 and 3...it was a hard time in my life but I had both my parents and my mom really went to bat for me. I worked nights and she took care of my children when I was not there to. She made them dinner and made sure they had baths and got them to bed. It was about 5 months I lived with my parents. They are wonderful for allowing me and the kids to stay with them during a hard time, I will never forget that.

Then, I moved into a house (that they got for me...my parents rock! doncha think?) with my children and got a regular job, a 8-5 type and I had Kylie in preschool for the day and Hayden was in Kindergarten, picked up by the YMCA van every day.

When my mom finally retired from her job, she picked up my kids from school. She was there for them, again when I couldn't be, since I had to work. Being a single mom is no easy task!

So, I just have to say: my Mom is the BEST MOM EVER! She continually has put things on hold and is there for me and my kids. Even today, she is picking up Kylie from school. Takes her to practice piano and then brings her home. I babysit daily, so I can' t leave. If Mom can't do it then Dad does.

My Mom and I had a great talk just this morning about relationships. We both agree that we are so happy that we can talk to each other about most anything and we are not afraid of hurting each other's feelings. My Mom has become my friend over the years and that makes me smile!

I think it has taken us years to get where we are, but it has been well worth the wait!

Please, share with me about your Mom and what are your plans for Mother's Day??

We are planning on going to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum for Mother's Day...for MY Mother's Day, so I may have to celebrate with my Mom the day before!

Friday Fragments

Here is Brandon in sunglasses....thinking he is a movie star! Oh he is so cute! He is now starting to potty-train! I am so excited! He goes before bedtime and when he wakes up. I try to have him go before nap time and when he wakes up.....so soon he will be in underware!



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Couldn't resist putting in a pic of Serena! I can hardly believe she is going to be going to school in the Fall...

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My cousin's granddaughter is going to start a kick boxing class run by Chuck Liddell! I think that is awesome for her! She is going through some major changes in her life and might need an outlet, so this is perfect!

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I finally made my sign for the van: Get off your cell! I want to live! I cut out hearts earlier this week and I kept one for myself and put this on it! My 15 yr old daughter said she wouldn't ride in the van with me if I was really going to "flash it to drivers"...I am all for talking on the phone, but use a headset! already! I am really down on people talking on the phone while driving because I was almost hit while pulling my kids in the wagon one day, so I am bitter!

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I want to shout out to my Ginger Parents! Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to them! I think wedding anniversary's are wonderful, just as great as weddings, so I am happy they went out to dinner to celebrate! :)

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The Lakers are playing in the playoffs as I type! I can hardly do my blog. I am a Kobe lover and I love the Lakers, too! They are still loosing :(

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We have a long driveway. It will hold about 4 cars in a row...so, if I am out and about and Daddy comes home, I park behind him and block his car...so some mornings I have to move my van so he can go to work...I don't like doing this when the little ones are sleeping because I am scared they might go out the front door looking for us and go to the drive way and I won't see them (You get the picture). I had to move my van this morning. Brandon was awake and didn't want to stay in the house, so I took him with me. Serena woke up just before I came in the house and was sitting on the couch with huge ploppin' tears in her beautiful big brown eyes...she thought I left her home alone! Poor kid! I told her the minute I saw her, I was moving the van and she should have looked out the window (I noticed the blinds then, and she had looked out them) and she said she did but didn't see me. I sat and hugged my little girl and rocked her back and forth telling her over and over again, I will never leave you! She told me she looked all over the house, in all the bedrooms and even the closets! How horrible to feel abandoned!

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My husband recently purchased an I touch...it is cool. You can download music and search the internet...he loves it. He wants me to love it. He wants to buy me one. I just don't think I would use it and appreciate it like he does. My daughter also has one...she is on that thing all the time. I would prefer a laptop....something I would definitely use and appreciate!

Brought to you by MRS. 4444!

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Arts and Crafts in Our Home :)

Here are the snowflakes I made for the kids...(I had to look up on the computer how to do it!)

Some of you already know, I am not the artsy-fartsy type of person, so this is HUGE for me!

This was the first thing I cut out for the kids, a plain simple heart. They loved all the hearts I cut out for them!

Then we ventured to flowers!

I also got this idea from the Internet...I am telling you, I have no art stuff in me, so this is pretty good!

All the flowers in order of who they are for: McKayla, Hayden, Serena, Daddy, Kylie and the small one was originally for Mom but I told her to give it to Brandon, since he is the baby!

What a nice bunch!

Hope you have enjoyed this edition of Arts and Crafts!

Stay tuned: I might come up with something else we can make!

Brandon Wearing Shoes ~ But Not His Own

I don't know what it is with Brandon and wearing other people's shoes...but he loves to get a hold of any ones shoes and wear them around the house. You can go here to see him wearing Daddy's work shoes or you can go here to see him wearing his new shoes, his sisters dress shoes or Serena's ballet slippers!

Enjoy these pics!

Here he is wearing Ginger Girls shoes! He put them on himself and wore them for about an hour and I had to convince him that she needed to put her shoes on and he needed to put his shoes on.

Spit ~ oh how I hate it!

My wonderful 2.5 yr old has decided that spitting is his new thing as of late. He does it when he is antagonizing his sister or Ginger Girl...He does it when he is mad....He does it when he is about to get into trouble for doing it in the first place!

I cannot stand it!

I have smacked his face and he continues to do it. I have used hot sauce and he continues to do it. I have put him in time out and he still does it. Time out on the wall or in his room, no matter he still does it. I have explained to him in his language how gross it is and how I can't stand it and he still does it!

I think we have entered what people quite commonly refer to as the "terrible two's"! oh and I hope this is the worst of it, because I don't quite know what else he is capable of or what I am able to endure.

He is the most awesome person to cuddle with in the mornings. I love to lay with him in my bed and cuddle with him. He holds my face so lovingly and chatters baby talk to me! It is so sweet to wake up to this! Or sometimes I am already awake and I go to him and try to cuddle in his small bed and well that is hard, so he will tell me, "I want to go in this bed" meaning my bed.

He loves to get naked for his bath and go running full boar from our back bathroom all the way to the living room to Daddy and scream "neebie cheebies!" which is his term for "nudy-patudy!" which is something I started with Serena when she was a baby and naked getting ready for a bath or out of the bath and getting dressed. So, he does this and I usually have to come and get him and have him get into the tub.

He loves going from room to room looking for his "Sis Sis" which is Kylie and his "Bro Bro" which is Hayden and "Chote" which is Serena...he is such a good, loving kid....when he is NOT spitting!

He is also very polite when asking for hot cocoa. He says I want hot cocoa and I ask him to say please and he does. Then after I make it, hand it to him and he says "thanks Mom!" if I pucker up he will always so willingly give me a kiss and a hug!

I pray every morning for God to please watch over my family and friends and to help them make the right decisions, and for Brandon this must specifically be to not spit! and I also thank God for my family and friends. It is a great way for me to start the day. So, if you pray, please pray for Brandon, he needs it and so do I.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

OMG! My little nephews, Thing 1 and Thing 2! Aren't they just the cutest!?!?!?!?!? The happy little girls are their sisters, age 2.5 and 5....they are adorable, too!

When my sister told me she had onesies of Thing 1 and Thing 2 I just about died! I couldn't wait to see the pics of the twins in them!

I had to put my nieces in this post, too! They are the only ones on my side that call me Auntie Mel, so I had to put them all on here.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Thanks Sis for letting me put your babies on my blog! I appreciate showing them off to my blogging world of friends!

Why do I blog?

I have been thinking a lot this past week of why I blog and of all the wonderful women I have met thru my blog!

Who would have thought you can actually make friends? by blogging and reading others blogs?

I started my blog initially, so my out-of-town family (in Texas, North Dakota, Minnesota, Santa Maria, CA, and other states) and my friends (in Hawaii, Ventura, CA) can see the kids and how they have grown and changed over time (since I suck at taking pics or having them taken and sending them to people!).

Then, I participated in Friday Fragments, hosted by Mrs. 4444's and then I did a Sundays In My City, hosted by Unknown Mami and I went to so many different blogs in so many different places, it was truly amazing! I love participating in these two meme's!

I only have a few friends, real friends. My sister (she lives about 10 minutes away), My Little Miracles (also 10 minutes away), my old boss Deb, Caty in Hawaii, Shari my friend from high school and that is all. These women know me. They know what is going on in my life: good, bad or indifferent. They are there for me to cry to when I need a shoulder. They are there for me to pick up the phone and call them and ask them something lame, LOL.

Now, I have oodles of women I call friends! I can post about all the wonderful stuff going on in my home and I can also e-mail some of you about the sensitive stuff. It means a whole lot to me, more then any of you will ever know! Well, know you will know!

I was talking to my son's Specialist Teacher and Speech Therapist last Friday when they came to the house. I was telling her all about my blog and even pulled it up on the computer, to show her some pics on there that I had posted (the Desperate Housewives post, LOL) and I told her that there are many women who blog from all over the world and I get to read their blogs, and explained SIMC to her. She was amazed. I also told her that it is nice to have people you can talk to about anything and they are not going to judge you, at least I have never felt judged, and they are going to give you feed back or tell you they know someone who has been thru that or whatever, they will relate one way or another. It is a great way to network and make friends.

That is what got me wanting to write this post.

So, a huge shout out to all you bloggers that I have come across!

Your friendship means the world to me, know you know!

Friday Fragments ~ Curly Hair and a Must See Video

I got these wrap, snap and go! curlers for your hair many moons ago. I pulled them out the other day and told Serena we would use them and curl her hair. It turned out awesome on the sides, not so much in the back. I think her hair is just too long and heavy...I dunno but we will do it again, she loves to have curls then she says she looks like Mom! :)

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Ginger's cousin, Ginger Boy, Serena and Brandon. Doncha love the pillow above his head? I have no clue why it is there, guess it needed to be out of the way...LOL

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Here is my puppers, Chloe. She is a Pug and old, like 10 yrs old! There is a short video at the end of this post and all you can hear (mostly) is Chloe breathing, yes she breaths loud, it is a crack up!

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Remember my science experiment? Well, I was really done with it a while ago, but kept forgetting to take a pic of the bottle with my marks. Yes, I marked each and every load and NO it didn't do 64 loads, but it did do 35. So, I guess this just proves I was right! Hahahah which doesn't happen often!

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This is Serena's drawing of Percy, the number 4 engine from Thomas and Friends. I think it is a great pic and it shows her artistic talent. I mean she is only 4.5 yrs old.

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Here is a short (14 second) video of Serena and a rolly-polly and Chloe (nickname Deeka...don't ask why or where we got that nickname because I have no clue!) Enjoy!

Brought to you today by Mrs. 4444's!

Happy 15th Birthday Kylie!!!

Kylie turned 15 yesterday, so Happy Birthday Kylie!!

We went to Universal Studios for her birthday....and I forgot the camera! Guess I won't win Mother of the Year Award anytime soon...and she didn't bring hers because she thought I would bring mine.....

So of course, the day we go to Universal without a camera! we see EVERYONE! Shrek and Fiona, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Dora, Dracula, Marilyn Monroe, Lucy, Frankenstein, Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa Simpson, The Mummy people, Beetle Juice, Woody Woodpecker and some other fox dude, Curious George just to name a few! I was so bummed! I really want to get a picture of The Mystery Machine and Shag and Scooby!

We had a blast and did more this time then last time, in a shorter amount of time! No one was there, we only waited 15 min or less for a ride, mostly it was a 5 minute wait, so we went on some rides a ton of times.

Here are 2 pics I took with my phone, not bad! I thought they might turn out blurry or something but no they are good.

Kylie with Matt Damon

Shrek

Sundays In My City

Sunday in my city is cold and overcast! So, the boys are hanging out inside, watching a movie!


We have had such weird weather this past week, rain, Sana Ana Winds, sunny day in the 80's and now this yuck overcast! Hope your Sunday is brighter then mine!


Now head on over to Unknown Mami for more wonderful places around the world!

Friday Fragments

Here is another post on FF (Friday Fragments). I love this kind of post, so random!

I love these kinds of decorations! Don't you?

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I love Reader's Digest! I love the jokes and the articles. I don't get a lot of time to read, but this is something I really enjoy!

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We have had rain, hot sun and Santa Ana winds all in ONE week! For those of you who don't know: Santa Ana winds are hot winds, not cold ones. SO, needless to say, all my kids and my Gingers (AKA Ginger Breads) are all snotty, sneezing and coughing...wonderful!

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Love Glee! Just started watching last season on the computer to get caught up since the new season starts on Tuesday! I can't wait!

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Conversation between me and Serena on our walk:

Serena: Mom, you know, Sophie is real cute. She is bigger then Brandon.

Mom: Yes, she is cute. She is older then Brandon, I think she is already 3.

Serena: Well, you can understand her better then Brandon. She talks more and she is animated.

Mom: (trying not to laugh) umm Serena did you say animated?

Serena: Yes, Mom.

Mom: Do you know what animated even means? (still trying not to laugh)

Serena: No Mom, but I will tell you what it means tomorrow.

I was rollin'! So I tried to explain it to her but by that time we were already at our destination! She has quite the vocab for a 4.5 yr old.

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You always need to be careful with what you say to your kids. For example, whenever Serena says she "hates" something I always correct her and say, you shouldn't hate that is a strong word, say you don't like. So, driving in the car in a town I cannot stand! I say, I hate driving here and she says, no you don't hate Mom, you should say you don't like to drive here! hahahahah see she is listening to me even though sometimes I think she is ignoring me.

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I love Spring! I have noticed some really pretty purple flowers in my flowerbeds outside. I will have to get off my butt and take some pics and post them. Some of them in the backyard, I have never seen before! I need to get some flowers this weekend to plant. Some friends of mine have their "gardens" already planted! Like, tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumber...we did strawberries and jalapenos last year and oh yes the Pineapple Sage (any ideas of what you do with this stuff??? Hubby grabbed it on accident..LOL) we got a few strawberries but not much and the jalapenos, well they weren't hot, so I dunno if I want to plant veggies, maybe I should do herbs...?

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My sister has 7 month old twin boys. She recently got their pics taken and they were wearing ....onsies that say, "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" I want to post the pics so bad on here! I will have to call her and ask her permission. When she told me she orderd them I was like oh how cool and so cute! I couldn't wait to see them, so cross your fingers that she will let me post them on here, you won't be disappointed!

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Ants have invaded my kitchen! I couldn't find the honey...until way late in the day and the kids wanted peanut butter and honey sammy's....so I am looking in the freezer to pick out something for dinner, and low and behold the honey was in there! and frozen ants in the ice cube tray! ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

guess they found the honey quick and my hubby wanted them dead, fast!

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Easter 2010

The Easter Bunny came early this year, Saturday night to be exact! He hid these cool eggs in the backyard and left black light flashlights for the kids, so they could find them!

Here is Serena with her flashlight and basket, finding an egg.

Brandon checking out the egg..

Here is Brandon checking out his trains, from the Easter Bunny...

Serena looks quite happy with her basket...

Showing her new dress up dress, Princess and The Frog!

We decided to get the glow-in-the-dark eggs this year, vs coloring eggs. I love to color eggs, so at first I was kinda bummed, but the glow-in-the-dark eggs were awesome! And we always can color eggs next year, right? I am a kid at heart! I love coloring eggs and I love going trick-or-treating with the kids on Halloween!

Desperate Housewives...

Ok I know I am a total geek for even posting this...but don't you agree that these houses are just beautiful?!?!?!?!?!?

This pink one was Edie Britt's house on Desperate.

This one is Gaby and Carlos Solis' house.

This is the playground that the kids in the neighborhood get to play at, it is just down the street from the houses.

I tried and tried to figure out who all the other houses belong to but I couldn't do it. Maybe when I watch it again I will be able to put a name to a house.

We got to see the houses when we went on the tram tour of the back lot at Universal. Kylie and I went absolutely wild when the tour guide announced ..."Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives"....you would have thought the actual actors were there, not just the houses!

The top one might be Mike Delfino's house and I think the blue one might be Bree's house.....

Ok I know I am a total geek, but you still love me anyways? Right??!?