Picture Day

Kevin had Picture Day at school today.  Here are some shots I took of him this morning as he was practicing how he would take his picture.....

T.G.I.M.

I know it's usually T.G.I.F. but today I am thankful that it is Monday and we got through the busy weekend.  Now I get a little time to reorganize my thoughts and see what's happening this week!

First things first.  Here are some cute pictures of my little helper making cookies last Thursday.  He really wanted to try and do it all by himself, like in the "Froggy Bakes a Cake" book, but I helped out a little.  

Next, this weekend we filled our time up by going to the Street Art Festival on Saturday and returning on Sunday to see the finished products.  Once again, Kevin was fascinated by how they do it and wants to go buy some more chalk to draw on our driveway like last year.  He's started a few art projects of his own recently and I will have to get them posted soon to share with you all.

And lastly, I am continuing my running and this past Saturday I ran about 19 miles.....I thought it was 20, but after measuring it again, it was closer to 19.  Close enough, right?  I have 5 weeks left before the Santa Clarita Marathon and am actually feeling pretty good about it.  So let's hope nothing out of the ordinary happens between now and then!

River Rally

Here's some of the pictures from the River Rally last weekend.  This year the river clean up was very close to our house so the boys rode their scooters and I walked behind them.  They did a great job riding without complaining about getting tired, but the rally itself was pushing them to their limits.  They found a few pieces of trash and glass and then continued to ask, "Are we done yet?"  So we didn't stay that long, but long enough to feel like we did our part to help clean up the environment for the day!

Deja Vu

I was looking back over my blog to see when I started this thing, and found that it's been over a year since starting.  I also saw that the pictures I posted last year and the things I was writing about are the exact same things that I was going to post about yesterday or the day before.  It's like we're going in circles around here, doing the same things each year, just getting a year older as we do it.  I guess that's what happens if we're involved in the same activities, such as scouts, and the city plans activities once a year that we participate.  I think I'm ready for something out of the ordinary to happen.  Maybe I'll just have to take on the responsibility of making new and exciting things happen.

Today I have to get to work, but will post some pictures later.

Batkid and Joker

I came home to find the boys looking like this yesterday.  "It's washable!",  Kevin said.  Today the boys, especially Zach, look like they have a little bit of black eyes.  I guess "washable" is meant for washing off clothes, not skin.

Look, Batkid lost his tooth at school yesterday!

"Why so serious, Batman?"

Tumblebees

I just realized I never updated on Zach's first day of preschool, which was now almost 2 weeks ago.  He is such a big boy now and is participating much more in his class than last year.  On the first day of school both Garrett and I brought him to the playground.  Garrett went off to work after saying goodbye and I was planning on waiting until it was time to line up.  Zach comes up and asks me, "When are you going to leave."  I told him when it was time to line up I would go.  So he's fine with that and goes off to play again.  As soon as it's time he comes up to me and says, "Ok, you can go now!"  No tears, no clinging to mommy's legs, nothing!   I'm glad that he's comfortable there now and he's been excited to go every day since starting this year.  

Another thing he's been excited about is the Tumblebees bus that comes to his school every Monday.  It's a bus that has been transformed into a small gym.  All the seats have been removed and they put in some climbing equipment and mats, ropes and small trampolines inside.  He goes for half an hour and loves it.  Today he was so excited to show us that he learned how to do a summersault.

I had a cute video, but it's not working.  Check back later!

Props

This post is the first that is written on my iPhone. We'll see how many typos happen this way. So, I'm sitting in downtown Van Nuys on my hour and a half lunch break from jury duty. Yes,I'm still on the jury and I'm praying that it ends today. But all of this beside the point. I just wanted to give props where they belong. The first goes out to Garrett who has taken over for me during these past few days. Luckily, his job is flexible enough that we've been able to get away with not having to get babysitters for the kids. He's just stepped up and taken over in the picking up of the boys, starting Kevin on his homework and all the other stuff that comes with afterschool. So thanks Gar!

Secondly, these past few days have made me appreciate all of the "working" moms out there. Yes, I work part time but I don't really consider myself a working mom. It's hard getting everyone ready in the morning, including yourself, getting everyone to where you're supposed to be on time. Then on top of all that coming home and making dinner and cleaning up the house. I'm thankful for the schedule I have but have truly developed a new appreciation for those moms who do it all, and then some!

Ok, my fingers are cramping from typing on the phone..... But I the one positive of being here is actually having a required lunch break!!

Popcorn Anyone?

It's that time of year again.  Popcorn time!  Kevin is now in his second year of scouts and this is the only fundraiser that they do all year.  What's making it even more fun is that this year I'm the "popcorn lady" so we have all the boxes of popcorn in our garage. So, I thought I would try and help Kevin out by seeing if any of you out in internet land are craving cub scout popcorn!  If you'd like to help Kevin out you can go to OrderPopcorn.com   and enter the following order key to give Kevin credit:  TEH6GWG

Thanks so much!

My Civic Duty

This week I have been on call for jury duty.  Each evening I have called in and a recording has told me that I do not need to report.  Except for Wednesday evening I called and the machine told me I actually had to physically go down to the court house and report for duty.  I had thought I was going to get off all week.  But, I figured that today, 9/11, of all days was a great day for me to be proud to be an american.  

I have never been on a jury before.  I was called one time when I lived in Chico and was able to get off because we already had a trip to Jamaica planned.  Today was a different story though.  The meeting room was big and they told us to come prepared with books, or music, or whatever would keep us entertained because it would be a long day of waiting.  They were right, of course.  I spent the first 3 hours waiting, finally getting sent over to a court only to be told then that the case had just settled and did not need a jury.  So I went back to do some more waiting.  The man in charge told us that we could go to lunch early and come back at 1:30 to report to another trial at 2.  He made it sound like we may be dismissed when we got back, so my hopes were high.  No such luck.  I went with the rest of the group and was the 4th person to be called for the jury.  Each juror had to state their name and info about themselves.  My heart started beating faster just thinking about talking out loud in front of everyone.  I made it through though.  After more of this and that I kept waiting for them to tell me to go home, but they didn't.  I am now an official jury member and will be reporting in the morning.  It's actually kind of exciting and interesting.  Luckily it's only going to be a 2 or 3 day trial!

The Mom Song

I'm sure most of you have heard this, but Anita Renfroe was a speaker at the conference on Friday and she sang this, along with a few others.  She made me laugh a lot, so I hope you get some enjoyment out of this too.

Women of Faith

Garrett's been getting on my case to update my blog ....... so I finally found the time tonight.  I got back yesterday from my weekend away with "the girls".  I had a great long weekend!  

We started off on Thursday at Disneyland.  You'd think I might want to go somewhere else, but it was very different going to Disneyland with no kids.  We had a lot of fun and the best part was that there were very short lines.  That made the day so worth it.  I even got to go on California Screamin' that I've never been on before because the kids were not big enough.  It made me scream and feel a little sick.  Following that up with Tower of Terror was enough for me to need to sit out while Rochelle and Tina went on the tower again.  Unfortunately Disneyland closed at 8, so there were no fireworks or electrical parade, but the three of us were feeling very old because we were done at 8 and I think I was asleep by 9:15.  Still the first one asleep at a slumber party!

The Women of Faith conference started on Friday and I enjoyed all of it.  The speakers were great, as always.  I laughed and cried, sang and danced, and tried to take it all in.  All of the speakers have this great sense of humor that they throw in at unusual moments.  In all honestly though, I think the two "women of faith" that I enjoyed the most were Tina and Rochelle.  They both have been through many trials in their lives and they are very open and honest about their lives and how they have continued to have faith throughout their lives.  I wish that I was able to open up more and share more of my life with others, but it's something that I continue to work towards.  

The conference continued all day Saturday and then following the conference, despite  Garrett pleading for us to come home early, we hung out at the hotel and went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  I couldn't have asked for a better "girls weekend" away.  

Sunday we drove back to our house and Kevin said he wanted "the funny lady" to stay.  That would be Rochelle.  She could have been up on stage with the other women.  She always is coming up with something funny, making everyone around her laugh.  Unfortunately "the funny lady" and Aunt Tina had a long drive ahead of them and we had to say goodbye.  I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the boys tell me stories about what they did while I was gone.  

Thanks girls for a great weekend!!  I will be ready for another one soon.....

Pictures From the Weekend

">Thank you to Uncle Dennis for a great slideshow of the boys' weekend in San Clemente!

Facebook Fun

The past few weeks I've been having fun on the Facebook website.  I've been able to get in contact with people I haven't seen in many, many years.  This site has been around a while, but since I just now discovered it, it's become my new source of internet entertainment.  

And speaking of "old friends" I am super excited about tomorrow night because my long time friend, Rochelle, and my friend/sister-in-law, Tina, are coming down from up north.  We plan on going to Disneyland on Thursday and then we are going to the Women of Faith conference on Friday and Saturday.  I'm very much looking forward to our time together.

In the mean time, Zachary starts his first day of his second year of preschool tomorrow.  I'm sure I'll have pictures to post tomorrow afternoon.  This short week is going by so fast!